O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
O Rising Sun, you are the splendor of eternal light and the sun of justice. O come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Yesterday I sat in my parents’ kitchen and felt as if the day was over at 3:30 in the afternoon. The sun was setting in a Connecticut sky the shade of gray that forbodes snow. Today will be the least sunlight of the year in the northern hemisphere. Truly we wait for the light.
Perhaps because I am so sensitive to the amount of sunlight in my environment, the image of Christ as the Light of the World has always struck me as powerful. When we are scared of the dark, there is a light. When we can’t see, there is a light. When we’re knocking into things, there is a light.
Light is such a desperate need in our world, where it often seems like everything is obscured. Light reveals truth, and truth makes us free.
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