Light in the darkness

On Easter Sunday, I was touched by my pastor’s (Father Crispin Okoth) homily about light and darkness:

Jesus is the light.

Sometimes, one act can overshadow the light. This brings lots of darkness, dark clouds and pain and anger in our lives to an extent that we sometimes do not see and celebrate the joy and beauty of life…

That does not mean we have to ignore the bad that happened, the darkness. No, we don’t ignore it. We pay attention to it. We try to do whatever we can to help and  try to bring light into the darkness. That is our calling…

Sharing in the risen Jesus; admitting the risen Jesus. It’s not just something we hope for in the future; no, it’s something we have to enjoy in the here and now. We have to see his blessings all around; not at the end of time. No, in the here and now. So you and I become the salt of the earth. To give flavor to the world around us. And to bring light to those who dwell in darkness.

This got me thinking about the darkness of climate change, and climate injustice. How we can’t ignore it; but how we also can’t wallow in despair about the crisis that is unfolding. No, we have to move forward towards the light of climate action, towards justice for the poor and marginalized, towards caring for God’s creation. In the here and now. Not in 20 or 30 years or at the end of time when we will all be judged for what we did or did not do. 

I think it also means that we have to celebrate the light in the world. There is a lot of climate action light out there; a lot of good people doing good things for the earth. Let’s not forget to celebrate the good as my good friend, Scott Henson, reminds me. Scott suggests checking out these websites that are celebrating the good, just to name a few: futurecrun.ch/goodnews, reasonstobecheerful.world, goodnewsnetwork.org. 

Goodness is contagious so might I also suggest you commit yourself to practicing some random kindness or a perhaps a senseless act of beauty? Need some inspiration: try randomactsofkindness.org. Help bring light to those living in darkness. Be the light.

Working together, we can help take care of our common home. 

Paul Litwin