My 90-year-old father had a stroke. He was 26th in line for the ICU and had to spend five days in the ER amid COVID patients. I suffered sleepless nights because of fear and butt-unfriendly chairs. I couldn’t breathe every time I’d enter the ER. It was our version of “descending into hell.”

One night, I cried out, “Lord, why does it have to be this dark?” He answered, “Remember your painting of the cactus bud, how the whiteness of the flower only stood out when you got the dark background right? It is only in contrast with the darkness that the glory of My light can be fully appreciated.” I had just finished that painting. It was the hardest to make in my paintography series and took me four tries before I was satisfied.

God’s glory is more brilliant against the darkness. Despite heavy exposure, Papa and I were protected from COVID-19. Despite the long waiting list, he was given a private room. Despite the odds, Papa survived and is now ambulant with the help of a walker. Lella M. Santiago (lellams88@gmail.com)

reflect

What darkness are you facing right now? Where or from whom are you getting your light?

Jesus, You are the only true source of light. May I never forget that, especially when my life is laden with problems.

St. Ignatius of Lanconi, pray for us.

Obedience is crucial in achieving what God wants us to do for His Kingdom. Let us be open to the Holy Spirit and let Him guide us by His Word. We live in a “do what you want, when you want” kind of a world where obedience is not honored as it should be.

24 The word of God continued to spread and grow. ²⁵ After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission, they returned to Jerusalem, taking with them John, who is called Mark. ^13:1 Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them off. 4 So they, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. ⁵ When they arrived in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8

R: O God, let all the nations praise you!

² May God have pity on us and bless us; may he let his face shine upon us. ³ So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation. (R) ⁵ May the nations be glad and exult because you rule the peoples in equity; the nations on the earth you guide. (R) ⁶ May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you! ⁸ May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear him! (R)

Gospel | John 12:44-50

Jesus emphasizes that obedience is at the heart of everything He does. He acts in accordance with what the Father has asked Him to do. If this is good enough for Jesus, then it ought to be good enough for us. There is nothing weak about obedience. The greater the obedience of a person, the stronger his character will become.

Gospel Acclamation

I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.

⁴⁴ Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, ⁴⁵ and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. ⁴⁶ I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷ And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. ⁴⁸ Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, ⁴⁹ because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read 1 CHRONICLES 16 - 18 today.

At this time last year, the darkness of the raging pandemic still cast a pall of gloom over a great part of the country. It had been over a year that the country had been groping in darkness. I am quite at home in the dark. I consider being up on a mountain peak in pitch darkness as most memorable and precious. My most productive and creative moments are those spent walking silently at dawn. But lest you get the urge to psychoanalyze me, let me tell you right off why. On the peak in the darkest of nights, I see the beauty of the stars better. On the plain at dawn’s darkest, I wait with eager longing and am elated as the first streaks of light gently pierce the eastern horizon.

The whole country last year at this time had long been walking through a dark tunnel of fear, worry, uncertainty, hunger, and deprivation. Millions lost either job or sufficient income. Many lost loved ones. As if these were not enough, the seeming lack of direction and clear plans of action from authorities made the future look bleaker, the long night blacker, and the experience of suffering longer.

But just when the night seemed darkest, the faint glimmering lights of hope shone from the most unexpected places. The community pantry burst through the dark enveloping world of growing helplessness and hopelessness. Within days, they mushroomed everywhere in the country. Help poured in from the most unexpected people and places.

As a professor of social theology, I am not one to champion “Deus ex machina” approaches to basically human problems. But as a priest, counselor, and educator, I believe in God helping those who help themselves. With feet firmly planted on the ground, I always touch base with reality, and while I believe in miracles, I also believe that God ordinarily works through you and me, and uses “secondary causes” or instruments to effect the same miracles.

Today is one opportunity for a miracle that we need to make possible—believe, keep to His Word—so that “we may not remain in darkness.” For He has called us out of darkness into His own wonderful light. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

reflection questions

What have been your darkest moments in life? How did you find or get to the light?

Your light, O Lord, shines through the darkest of nights. May I always turn to Your light.

Today, I pray for: ________________________________________