Tag: Light

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The Great Drama of Light and Darkness at Advent

As we enter the final week of Advent and the nights grow rapidly darker and colder, let us remember that “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness grasped it not” (John 1:4-5). The Christ Child draws near and a new and glorious morn approaches. May we ready our hearts and minds.

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Minute Meditation – Nature Leads Us to Life

Nature takes us directly to Life, her world and the inner world of love being in deep communion. She brought me there after the fire of loss when all I wanted was to die. In those days, I didn’t believe I could survive. She showed me how the sea holds light and shadow, and how sunlight rides on the rising waves, everything gleaming. I saw the ocean glisten in full sunlight, balancing sparkling vessels of light—small shimmering stars—on the ocean swells. The ripples of light reached past my weariness and confusion until I could see what I needed to learn. Everywhere, light is pouring through the deepest places.

— from the book Stars at Night: When Darkness Unfolds as Light
by Paula D’Arcy

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – Probe for Inner Wisdom

We are told that in the beginning there was light. Ever since, all of God’s creation—plants, animals, we humans—are drawn to light. As we emerged from our mothers’ wombs and pushed our way through a dark and confining birth canal, we experienced light for the very first time. We have come to learn how light sustains us and calls us to life. We call Jesus “Light of the World,” and he invites us to be light for one another in ways of loving, caring, and serving. Without this light, ours would be a dark, fearful, oppressive journey. 

Move from contemplation to action and probe for inner wisdom. What kind of light do others see in you? Do you have enough light to see your way? How do you fill the oil in your lamp? Who needs you today to bring a bit of sunshine into their life? As you generously share your light, give thanks and praise in knowing and treasuring all that is gift. 

— from the book Eucharistic Adoration: Reflections in the Franciscan Tradition 
by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – God Wants Usable Instruments

God wants useable instruments who will carry the mystery, the weight of glory and the burden of sin simultaneously, who can bear the darkness and the light, who can hold the paradox of incarnation—flesh and spirit, human and divine, joy and suffering, at the same time, just as Jesus did. Watch what Jesus does and do the same thing! That, indeed, is hard… This is the only goodness that is available to humans, but it is more than enough. As Jesus himself will later say, “God alone is good” (Mark 10:18). Such a text gives us both glorious and non-inflating goals. There is no appeal to the ego here, only to our need and desire for union—with our own selves and with God.

— from the book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr, OFM

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – Hearts on Fire

Franciscan prayer, lived to its full, is to set the human heart on fire. It is to transform one’s body into a body of love and one’s actions into actions of love. In this transformation is the fire that can set the earth ablaze — the fire of light, peace, justice, unity and dignity. It is to see the wounds of suffering humanity and bind them with mercy and compassion. It is to see and feel for all creation — to love by way of self-gift. It is to live in the mystery of Christ, the mystery of God enfleshed.

— from the book Franciscan Prayer by Ilia Delio, OSF

//Franciscan Media//