Most of us here at mass this evening have probably had electricity as a part of our lives since we were born. Most of us have had electricity outages from one time or another. A lot of people in the Jackson area lost power for a period of time in the storms a couple of weeks ago. Many parts of the world have a much less secure and less advanced electricity grid than we do. Where I lived as a missionary in Ecuador and where I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea in Africa, we did not have electricity all of the time. Electricity has certainly changed the world. When I was on the Camino in Spain this past winter, the sun did not rise until about 8:30 am, so most mornings I was walking in darkness for at least an hour or two. Since many of the areas were down remote paths, there was not a lot of light. One year, on my last day of my walk into the city of Santiago de Compostela, I decided to start out very early in the morning – at 4:45 am – so that I could arrive at the pilgrims’ office that morning to register as a pilgrim and attend the pilgrims’ mass at noon. During those early morning hours, I spent time in a eucalyptus forest and down some very remote paths in total darkness before the sunrise. The quiet dark hours that gave way to a beautiful sunset were very spiritual and prayer-filled. I remember the little LED flashlight I used on the Camino in those early morning hours that gave me enough light to see where I was going. Jesus is the light of our world. His light helps us navigate through the darkness of our world. Jesus is the one who illuminates those values of our faith that we are to live by. May we see Jesus as our light in the midst of those things that could take us off our path of faith.
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