Some time ago, an acquaintance of mine created a provocative piece of artwork that he shared with me. He took local newspapers and cut out story headlines that illustrated how people within the stories broke the Ten Commandments. He created a montage of these headlines that was similar to the two clay tablets we see actors carrying as they portray Moses with the Ten Commandments. These “tablets” were about six feet tall! It was horrifying to see the brokenness and the sins of people so graphically displayed. Needless to say, this piece of artwork was not very hopeful and left the viewer with a sensation of doom and gloom.
I reflect on this artwork as I continue my series on hope. In the book Mercy and Hope, the author, Mike Pacer, writes, “No amount of humiliation, pain, or even death could stop Jesus from accomplishing his salvific work. Instead, in submitting to those things, his saving work was perfected. Jesus humbled himself before the opposition of the world and submitted himself to death as a sacrifice for us. But in taking his life, the world did not win. Jesus rose from the dead, thus obliterating death and opening the gates of eternal life for all who would follow him. The Apostles took heart and persisted in overcoming the world in Christ’s name. They witnessed to the Good News of salvation through both their testimony and through their lives. While all but St. John abandoned Jesus at the time of his death, they all found the courage to live their own lives for him. Empowered by the Holy Spirit a handful of nobodies from nowhere ignited a spark of faith that set the world on fire, and that fire continues to burn today. We, too, must take heart. The world that hated Jesus and hated his Apostles is the same world that hates us today. It is the world of selfishness and indifference. It is the world that is scared of us because we are different. We are in the world, but not of the world. We are merely passing through this world. Our hope is set on the world that is to come. Like the Apostles, the examples of our lives are a challenge to the world. We are the light of truth that illuminates the darkness of ignorance and sin.”1
Jesus came into the world to be our Light. By following Him, believing in the message that He gave to us, we too become the Light for the world. We too become His vehicle to bring His love to our world by our words and our actions. Actions that should elevate others, actions that support and love. These are the actions of Christ. This is the light that we can bring into the world.
No matter what darkness encircles us or how the darkness is illustrated, whether in a piece of art, in the newspapers or on TV, we have the light of Christ deep within our beings. Shine on, my fellow Catholic Christians! Be the light of the world!!!
1 Pacer, Mike. Mercy and Hope. Lighthouse Catholic Publishing, 2015. Pg. 163.
By Sister Geralyn Schmidt, SCC, Special to The Witness
