Light of the World

 

We get so used to the word "God" that it might tempt us to think that we have a concept of who/what God is.
But whatever we call God can only be a name or symbol that points to the Mystery.
In First Letter of John he says simply, "God is Light." In the great prologue to John's Gospel he tells us, "The Word was the real Light that gives Light to everyone." And in chapter nine of the same Gospel Jesus himself declares, "I am the Light of the world."
"Light" is one of the best names we could use for God. It helps us to reflect on the Brilliance and Glory that God is in Godself. It also helps us to reflect on what God is in relation to us: the One who dispels the darkness of evil that threatens to engulf us.
Light becomes flesh in Jesus and destroys the blindness and the darkness that we choose when we sin. St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians assures us, "You were once darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord. Live as children of Light."