Monday of Holy Week - March 25

 Isaiah 42:1-7     John 12:1-11

In today’s first reading, we are given an inspired call to action. Through Isaiah, God says “I have formed you and set you as…a light for the nations.” A few years ago, the second weekend of January was one of the worst weather weekends we had in many years. Much of the city lost power due to the ice and people had to either evacuate their homes or live with no electricity. Visitation Parish also suffered from the power outages and on Sunday morning at 9 am, we entered the sanctuary to candlelight and natural light from the windows. It was cool, but not cold yet and most people sat a little closer to the altar since there were no microphones. The crowd was smaller than usual, but all in all the spirits were good.

There was no cantor that morning, but the pianist played with gusto. During the collection, he started playing “Christ Be Our Light.” It was so perfect. The notes flew from the piano like water down a beautiful waterfall. His music was pure magic. As I sat in my pew, beside my family, I closed my eyes and mentally sang along…”Christ be our light, shine in our hearts, shine through the darkness.” I won’t lie, a few tears started to fall down my cheeks. Not because I was sad, or cold, or sitting in the dark, but because I knew at that moment that God was speaking to us through the hymn. He is our light. He shines through our darkness.

The mass continued, and I was filled with a pure sense of peace from the Holy Spirit. Then, as we walked to communion – the lights came on! It was amazing. Another sign from God that He is our light and through the Eucharist He feeds our soul to go forth and follow His commandments.

God is our light who shines through the darkness, but we are also called to be the light - to shine for others and to lead by example, to help those less fortunate, and fight for “victory of justice.”

Q: This Holy Week in particular, how will I concretely serve God by being a light to others I meet?

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