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"Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. When people are saying, "Peace and security, " then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you ]like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day.We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober." ( 1 Thes 5 1-6)
Did you ever notice that the places where sin more easily is accomplished tend to be dark places, places out of the way, or places not in public view? For example, if a person decides that they want to get drunk the often will go to a bar. Most bars, not all, maintain their lighting at the level of dusk. When we decide to sin we do not need to have what we are doing to be brought out into the light for public examination. So, as we drink, the low level of light relaxes us and as the liquor relieves our inhibitions the darkness opens up a whole new range of possible things that we would never think of doing if we were sober. I am not saying that everyone who goes into a bar is a sinner, I am saying that a dark bar does make it easier to cast away your good intentions and the morals you were brought up with. The point is darkness is the most likely place where sin will be committed by us. If not the darkness in a bar, then perhaps it will occur in the darkness of a soul that has turned away from God. For the devil to work, darkness must be present for God is Light and where God is, the devil is not.
We do not know the moment when we will be called home to God. If all of our deeds were performed in darkness then that day will come upon us like a thief in the night. We will not be ready for it and when standing before the Great Judge we will not be able to offer an explanation why we loved the darkness more than the light. In our reading today, we are being challenged to always live in the light. But we must do more. Our light found in our souls, the light that is Jesus, has to be shared with those that dwell in darkness. Those in the dark cannot see past the end of their nose unless we come by and show them the light of Christ.
Imagine this. You are in a place of complete darkness, a cave that is hundreds of feet underground. Sunlight has never penetrated this gloom. You have a bright torch and as you walk you can see that the walls of this cave are riddled with gold, there is a fortune there for the taking. Then you come upon a man who is sitting on a rock wearing a blindfold. You approach him and ask him what he is doing there. He responds that he is just living his life. You reach up and remove his blindfold and he is amazed that for all these long years in darkness, he was sitting right next to a treasure. He thanks us for this revelation and as we walk away we can see the man's inner light start to grow as he sees Jesus in us and his heart reaches out and embraces the Son of God.
Those of us who believe, trust, and live in Jesus can work wonders in this world of ours. It is such a sad world. People are putting their trust in things that will rust. They need for us to show them the light of Jesus. We must attract them by showing them how wonderful life can be because we know the Son of God and more than that, He knows us and considers us a friend.
One place where we can share the light of Christ where it will always be appreciated is to share it with the Poor Souls in Purgatory. True, they are assured heaven. True, they have proven themselves worthy of heaven by the lives that they have lived on earth. But they need our prayers and they will not forget those that help them attain heaven sooner. There is a lot you can do for them. Click on the link below and find 20 things you can do to help the Poor Souls in Purgatory. The link will open in a new tab.
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