Raul Garcia III
Third Sunday in Advent
December 17, 2017
Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you Lord,
my rock and my redeemer.
Have you ever wondered how powerful light is? When you are in the dark,
you are desperately seeking for any light for guidance to safety.
Children sometimes need a night light for comfort, for when they sleep
or have to get up when they need to go to the bathroom. Maybe not just children.
That is probably all of us.
When I was a kid I thought I was faster than the speed of light. I'd be at my light
switch in my bedroom and thought I could flip the switch and before it got dark
I could run across my bedroom, into my top bunk bed and under the covers before
darkness hit. It was because I was scared of the dark. Boy was I fast!!
In our Gospel reading, God sent a man called John. John the Baptist because
he baptized people in the Jordan. People often asked John who he was. He would
say I am here to tell you about the light that is coming so you can believe.
John knew he wasn't the light, he wanted others to know about the light.
There's a great story called The Mirror by Robert Fulghum I want to share with you.
A Greek philosopher and teacher ended a lecture asking, “Are there any questions?” In the audience was Robert Fulghum who asked, “Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?”
Fulghum relates: “The usual laughter followed, and people started to go.
Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time,
asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.
‘I will answer your question,’ he said. Then taking his wallet out of his hip pocket,
he fished into it and brought out a very small, round mirror, about the size of a quarter.
Then he said, ‘When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and
we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found several broken pieces
of a mirror from a wrecked German motorcycle. I tried to find all the pieces and
put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one.
And by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy
and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where
the sun would not shine – in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became
a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.
I kept the little mirror, and as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in
idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man,
I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor for what
I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of the light.
But light – truth, understanding, knowledge – is there, and it will only shine in many
dark places if I reflect it.
‘I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have, I can reflect light into the dark places of this world – into the black places in the hearts of men – and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.’
“And then he took his small mirror and, holding it carefully, caught the bright rays of daylight streaming through the window and reflected them onto my face and onto my hands folded on the desk.”
‘I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have, I can reflect light into the dark places of this world – into the black places in the hearts of men – and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.’
“And then he took his small mirror and, holding it carefully, caught the bright rays of daylight streaming through the window and reflected them onto my face and onto my hands folded on the desk.”
We come here to Family of God today, to worship, sing hymns and to shed this light
which came into this world! Which shines in each of us. As we read in the Gospel,
Jesus is the reason for this light. He is the light of the world. He helps light our path.
We also have to be willing to let that light in so that we can be light for others.
Can we smooth our rough edges to be shaped and molded so that we too can
reflect Jesus’ light? Do we need to re-buff our own mirrors to reflect the light
Jesus gives us? Is the light within you still good or has it gone out?
Especially now in this world where so many things are changing and situations
arise and it seems like our world is going bonkers. The One thing in this crazy
world that can be constant is the light that we can shine to others. This light
doesn't have to be much it can be a simple hello, a hug, handshake,
simple thank you anything so that you can share Christ’s love and His light.
Amen.
