LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

Luke 8:16-18

In a fast food Subway. A young family with two kids was about to start eating their “happy meal.” The father was about to take a big bite of his sandwich when the younger kid said, “Dad, we still have to say grace.” But the father said, “Shhhhh, there are plenty of people here. We’ll just pray later at home.” The innocent kid responded quite loudly, “Ahhhh, so it’s only in the house that we pray before eating.” The father had to hush his son as he turned pale, embarrassed by the whole thing.

In our modern society, secularization is more and more penetrating our lives. To show one’s faith in daily life might invite ridicule. In some places, expressing your faith in public is a deviant act, people laugh at you. In other places, it is source of hatred and people are being killed for their faith. Now, the tendency for many of us is to think or say that “My faith is my private affair.”

In our gospel we read: “No one lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lamp stand so that those who enter may see the light.” Christianity is, in its very nature, something which must be seen. It is easy to find prudential reasons why we should not display our Christianity in the world’s face. In almost every person there is a natural fear of being different, we don’t want to be different; and the world is always likely to persecute those who do not conform to pattern.

The message from the gospel is that our faith is not our private affair. It must shine in our family, in our neighborhood, in our place of work, in our society, in our world. Obviously, Jesus is speaking in a metaphorical way to stress the importance of witnessing and giving good example.

We are this lamp that must be put on a lampstand for all to see. We have received this light of the faith when we became Christians, the day of our baptism. May the Lord help us that our light may shine in our daily life.

A small child was taken to a cathedral. She sat watching the sun shining through the windows. She asked her mother, “What are these people on the windows?” “They are saints,” was the answer. Then the child said, “Now I know what saints are. They are the people who let the light shine through.”