Light penetrates from the darkness and thus it attracts others towards it.
We as a community of faith must be willing to become this light which shines forth from the darkness thus drawing others to come to know of Christ and His Church on this earth.
We must realize that we cannot take our lamp and hide it under a bushel basket, but rather we must allow it to shine brightly for all people to see.
If we are to allow this to be so we must cultivate within our life and home the precepts of the faith, enter into the reality of prayer, and frequent the sacraments. In this manner we will begin to allow God to be at work in our life and thus this light will shine forth from the midst of the darkness of night.
If we truly allow our faith to be integrated into who we are as a human person we will draw others to the faith. It is impossible to not see a fire which has been lit in the midst of the darkness and thus too it is impossible for others to miss the authentic representation of Christ which stands in their midst.
If we consider for ourself the life of the saints we will realize that they professed Christ not only by words, but Christ was the very proclamation of who they were as a human person. People have been drawn to Christ because of the saints not for who they were, but rather on the behalf of Christ who they professed.
The Vatican document INSTRUMENTUM LABORIS, Working Instrument, stated: "Announcing and proclaiming is not the task of any one person or a select few, but rather a gift given to every person who answers the call to faith. Transmitting the faith is not the work of one individual only, but instead, is the responsibility of every Christian and the whole Church, who in this very activity continually rediscovers her identity as a People gathered together by the Spirit to live Christ's presence among us and discover the true face of God, who is Father."
So often we allow this light of faith which has been lit at our baptism to be dimmed through our participation in sin, lack of prayer, and lack of entering into the sacramental life of the Church which means not just receiving communion, but allowing the mercy of God to penetrate into our life through the Sacrament of Confession. If we do this the light of our faith will shine brightly before all.
We must look around and see that Christ has given us a mission which is to fill these pews with other souls. We must be willing to invite others to experience the joys of Christ's Church on this earth. If we cannot enter into this mission of evangelization we in return hide our lamp under a bushel basket.
May we truly be willing to become the light of Christ that penetrates from the darkness and thus attracts others towards it. We must be willing to spread the light of Christ to all whom we encounter in this life. May we be willing to spread this light always!
