Inextinguishable Flame
“Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday.”Isaiah 58:10b
Have you ever sat around a campfire and watched the wood slowly burning? Or maybe blown out a candle that required more effort than you imagined? Recently I placed one of those battery-operated tealights in front of the Mary statue that is outside my office and I left it on ever since the day I turned it on — nearly 3 weeks later, it is still going strong! It reminds me of how sometimes we get so tired from our work, yet there is still some juice left in us that enables us to keep going. Although it will probably be a good idea to get a recharge. There is such a flame that resides inside our hearts, a flame enkindled the day of our baptism, a flame that is the light of Christ.
Jesus tells His disciples that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world just as He is the Light that has come into this world, the Light that has descended into the hell of darkness bringing new life to those who have died. We are sharers in this light and bearers of it. Each Christian has this flame inside of them. Just imagine it. In this dark world that has bought into a culture of death, there are small flames of light everywhere. Imagine having x-ray or night vision and looking into the dark world and seeing the numerous little flames of light scattered everywhere. What a scene. It reminds us of the covenant God made with Abraham that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Small lights if alone is hard to see, but when clustered together can illumine the night sky.
As Christians we must come together so that our individual little flames can join together to be a light that kills off the evil that plagues this world, the light that uncovers the truth, and the light that brings warmth and hope to those in despair and darkness. We must do our best to help others see the inextinguishable flame that is within them. And when our flame grows dim, we must join ourselves to our brothers and sisters who will kindle our flame once again, for when we do so, the Light and Source of our flames is in our midst. It is prayer and relationship that will reenergize us when we grow weary. We must never forget that. Just like the little tealight outside of my office before Our Lady that stays on however dim, as long as there is a battery in it, no matter how tired we may grow in our fight for the defense of all that is good and true, the light within us still flickers because the Source of our light can never be extinguished.
