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2018 is over. That chapter of our lives is closed.
We’ve now entered into 2019. Six pages have already been written – and turned.
But as a famous philosopher once wrote, “We live our lives looking forward, but we understand our lives looking backwards.”
What, then, can the pages of 2018 teach us?
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Wherever there is darkness, light can appear.
For example, how many of us remember the story in July of the twelve boys from Thailand who found themselves stuck inside a cave for nearly two weeks, horrifyingly planted in darkness?
And most of us certainly remember Hurricane Florence in September that flooded the Carolinas, leveling homes and uprooting entire trees in its path.
Then there was the season of wildfires in California that burned an entire town to the ground, a town ironically called Paradise.
These were all terribly dark moments for ordinary people, like us.
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But wherever there is darkness, light can appear.
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Remember, while those boys in Thailand were wasting away, countless people from around the world worked tirelessly to bring them home.
And after Hurricane Florence, hundreds of first responders rushed to save those caught in the rising floodwaters.
And as the wildfires spread throughout California, thousands of firefighters risked their own lives to save others.
In each case, ordinary men and women stood up and said, “The darkness will not overcome us. I can – I will – be part of the solution. I will be light.”
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Wherever there is darkness, light can appear.
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The same lesson comes to us through the story of the magi. It’s a dark moment in scripture: King Herod is trying to kill this newborn King he’s heard about, the child Jesus.
But there is someone else at work in the night.
God is guiding the magi by the light of a star, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah we heard in our first reading, “See, darkness covers the earth…but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.”
Even though the magi are walking through the darkness, they know that God is with them. And so they move ever forward into the night, following the light of the star.
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After they encounter Jesus, the magi themselves become light for others, sharing this Good News of our Lord’s birth with the world.
They see that God has come to save all people – people of every race, and tongue, and nation.
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Isn’t that our mission, too, to encounter Jesus in the night?
And after we find him, to share our journey of faith with others?
This is the Gospel for the world to hear. God has come to save us; God is at work in the night — and so often that means God is working through us.
***
We may not find ourselves fighting wildfires or diving into caves in 2019, but if 2018 has taught us anything, it’s that there is the potential for light within each and every one of us.
As Saint Francis wrote, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is despair, let me bring hope; where there is darkness, let me bring light.”
How we will follow in the footsteps of those who’ve gone before us remains to be seen.
All we must say for now is this: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”