Little Lights Shining in the Darkness
Back Home Up Next

18 January 1987
Maikodai, Japan

My dear Sisters,

In the little home of Nazareth one of the books of the Bible which Jesus, Mary and Joseph would have most talked about would have been the book of Isaiah, the Prophet. Certainly Jesus, when He had grown to adulthood, would have reflected much in His prayer on the writings of Isaiah. You will recall how, when on the first occasion He preached a homily in the synagogue of Nazareth, it was some words from this prophet that He quoted to describe the work He would do. He would bring good news to the poor, freedom to the captives and consolation to the broken-hearted.

I wonder, did Our Lord often make His prayer on the final words of today's reading from the prophet Isaiah: "I will make you a light to the nations, so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." (Is 49:6).

Certainly Jesus spoke often about light. Indeed He said one day to the people who were listening to Him: "I am the light of the world." (Jn 9:5). He asked His close followers to be light to the world. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven." (Mt 5:16). There is also an echo of the words of Isaiah about salvation reaching to the ends of the earth in Our Lord's final words to the Apostles: "Go, make disciples of all nations." (Mt 28: 19).

Last night, my dear Sisters, when my plane was approaching Osaka, I looked out of the window and there below me was a beautiful carpet of dark black velvet, studded with little lights of white and gold and red and blue. That is how your great city of Osaka looked in the darkness of the night as seen from the height of a plane. I said to myself, `I have reached the ends of the earth,' for to a man who was born on a little island on the extreme west of Europe, Japan seems to lie at the other end of the world. It is all relative, because to you Europe lies at the other end of the world. For the little family at Nazareth, your country and my country would certainly have been thought of as "the ends of the earth." For the Holy Family of Nazareth, "the ends of the earth" would have been Persia and the Mediterranean Sea.

As I looked down on Osaka in the darkness last night, I reflected on the marvelous truth that here in Japan, so far away from the country where Jesus lived and died, there are to be found people who believe in Him and in the Church which He founded upon the rock of Peter. Yes, it is true, "salvation has reached to the ends of the earth." (Is 49:6). With the psalmist I say, "By the Lord this has been done, and it is marvelous in our sight." (Ps 118:23).

Osaka looked beautiful last night. What made it beautiful to me was the panorama of the specks of light which were shining in the darkness. The darkness was immense, but the little specks of light which I could see from the altitude of the plane were a delight for my eyes.

That is how you and I must seem to God. We are little dots of light shining in the darkness of this world. By our lives we give joy to the heart of God. Of us God the Father is saying, to quote freely the final phrase of this morning's Gospel, "This is My chosen one." (Jn 1:34). We are little points of light which can guide people to salvation and to God. The little points of light on the runway of the airport, which guide the pilot as he brings his plane safely down to earth, are not conscious of what they are doing for the safety (shall I say salvation?) of so many people in the plane. So, too, you, my Sisters. By the goodness of your lives, by what you do for the poor, by your love for each other, you are little points of light shining in the darkness. God is using you, and you hardly know it, to guide others, who hardly know it, safely to their destination and to the terminal building of heaven. "I will make you a light to the nations, so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." (Is 49:6).

At the end of each day I pray this little prayer of Father Teilhard de Chardin: "O God, grant that at all times You may find me as You desire me, and where You would have me be, so that You may lay hold on me fully."

If we are in that place where God wants us to be, if we are doing that work which He through our Superiors asks us to do, we can be certain that He will take hold of us fully. He will use us. We will be little lights shining in the darkness. We will bring His salvation to the ends of the earth.

Web Design by Beth Nicol