Live in the Light

Shelly Henley Kelly contemplates our need for the Light of Christ in a dark, broken world. 

My kitchen counter is still cluttered. Christmas décor spills across the living room where it waits to be packed. My daughters are back at their universities. My son is back in school. It’s been ten months of “two weeks to flatten the curve,” my job ended, and the country is a hotbed mess of who can be more righteously hateful to the other in the pretense that it will bring “unity.”

Struggling to see an end in sight, the sudden realization that today is our weekly Adoration hour inspires me to put on real clothes and head to the church. It’s too late for the daily Mass, but I slip into a back pew before the final blessing.

Anticipating the exposition, I hear Father announce that, effective this week, Adoration is moved to another day before the newly added evening Mass, and he leaves. Needless to say this is a crushing blow to my aching spirit and hot tears spill over before I can stop them. As the daily Mass attendees shuffle out and lights are dimmed, a group of women in the front of the church begin a Rosary. The rhythmic cadence soothes my weary soul, one that sits in darkness.

Suddenly, there is a warmth on my back; a yellow light slowly creeps across the floor. Sunlight pours through the stained glass, dappling the church interior. As it intensifies, my eyes lift to the tabernacle and the red candle burning beside it.

He is here. He burns for me as I for him.

The light from the candle. The light from the sun. They remind us that Jesus is the light of the world. He did not enter a perfect world; rather he was born into a dark broken world, a sinful world.

He is the light that peeks over the horizon, slowly illuminating the day, until with a brilliant radiance it spills over, changing everything. It fills the sky, pierces the clouds, beams into darkened spaces, and we lift our eyes into it, soaking in its warmth.

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In whatever darkness threatens to surround you, embrace Christ’s light. #catholicmom

We are a people living in darkness and we need the light of Christ. In these dark times, we must consciously allow it into our soul, our mind, cleansing the dark, until it fills us with His peace and love.

Today, in whatever darkness threatens to surround you, embrace Christ’s light. Allow it to empower us to become radiant with His light for others so that we shine brightly.

Copyright 2021 Shelly Henley Kelly
Image copyright 2017 Barb Szyszkiewicz. All rights reserved, used with permission