A light to shine before others

It is a matter of our culture that faith and prayer tend to be a very private thing. When we hear the scripture that tells us to go alone to our room and pray to the Father or to not be like the Publican who pounds his chest demonstrably in prayer, we are apt to say, "Amen." That feels comfortable and right to us. We have names, such as "bible-thumper", for people who we think bring their faith too much into the public view. Even if we don't shun them, we don't want to be like them.

The question is, "Do we want to be disciples of Christ, or not?" What did our Lord tell us about how to be his disciples? We are to be the salt of the earth, the city on the hill, a light to shine before others. Why? For what purpose? Because Jesus Christ came into this world to interact with us that we might know him and seek to be saved by him by becoming his disciples. He formed his Church and endowed that Church with his very self that we might be Christ to the world, to interact with it that all who seek Christ will find him.

That does not sound very much like a private thing. Interaction with the community and the world is key. We do not receive the sacraments as a private gift from God to hold close to ourselves. The sacraments are a gift for us to share with the world as that is the key that unlocks the power they contain. I was not baptized into the faith solely for the purpose of being able to call God my father. I was baptized to be adopted into his family of disciples and confirmed to build that family up. I was married in the faith to shine and share that light of love with my community. I was ordained in the faith, certainly not for my own purposes, but for the purposes of serving my faith community that it might go forth and be Christ to the world. "Go in peace, glorifying the Lord with your lives!"

We can look at this in two ways. Either we accept it as an obligation, what is expected of us to be disciples of our Lord and go through the motions to fulfill that duty. Or we perceive it as an opportunity to bring as much of the kingdom of heaven to earth now as we possibly can and thereby experience the joy that comes with that. To be attentive to the needs of God's children, our neighbors, and to share our love of our Lord with them is not a great burden that we should want to avoid. Rather, we should be embracing the opportunity to be yoked to Him who will lead us to our greatest fulfillment.

Let us then be aware that we are a light to the world and shine brilliantly.