Let your light shine

During mass this weekend our selected readings where from the book of Matthew.  “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. For most of us those words seem pretty straight forward. I am the light of the world....In the same way, let my light shine for others, that they may see my good deeds and will come to know God.


Wow! I don't know about you but that seems to be a pretty intense job. Let your light shine. I know most of us probably remember hearing the Sunday School song "This little light of mine." I know whenever I read that particular verse I do start to sing out in my childhood memories "I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine..." I'm sure for most of us it brings a smile to our faces.


As I sat back and listened to Father Darrell talk about it more in depth I realized that it was a lot more intense than that little Sunday School job could have ever portrayed. See not only are we charged as Christians with maintaining our own light but we are charged with spreading our light around to bring in others.


The task of keeping our light shining in this difficult world is hard. Our light never goes out although due to the effects of our problem and the problems of others close to us it may feel very very dim at times. Our light isn't just our Christianity, although I would bet many a people would disagree with me. I believe our light is our spirit, the joy of life, the beauty and serenity that makes our hearts sing.


 Not too long ago my light was dim.  Life as it routinely does began to make me feel like I was the only light in a very long and dark tunnel. As I shared with others the darkness that was inside I got so many light sharing moments. Soon I began to see that it wasn't that dark at all in the tunnel, infact I was beginning to see again and my light was beginning to grow again, although admittedly very slowly.


The job of sharing your light isn't an easy task. It's hard because you have to decide that for a moment in your life you are going to stop, listen, talk, and be there for someone else. Some of us make half hearted attempts at sharing our light, we stop and say stuff like "It'll be all ok...we pat the person on the back and walk on by." To really share our light though we have to stop.


It's like trying to light a candle while you are walking. It's a lot easier to light someone's candle, or to make it brighter if we slow down and stop long enough to really light it. It's next to impossible to help someone if we can't stop long enough to really reach out to them.


Some people look at sharing our light as a chore, after all they have cultivated and maintained their own personal light. Sometimes those with the brightest of lights look at those with the dim and say well if they just stopped doing that then they would be ok. They aren't sharing their light, they aren't sharing their souls, they aren't sharing what they have.


Have you ever had a flashlight that you hid under a blanket? When you turned it on the immeadiate area seemed pretty bright but when you looked out from under your blanket it wasn't very bright. The matter being the most of the light was shielded by the covering.. That is what those people have. The light that they feel is so bright is not that much because they hide it or keep it all for themselves.


The goal of us as humans isn't to hoard our light, it isn't to keep, take and not give back. It isn't about acting, or pretending like we are helping either. It's about truly and honestly stopping. It's about really helping someone. It's about taking your light and letting it shine!!!!!