There’s a great light all around us to which we are blind at birth, often by upbringing, and sometimes by inclination. If this blindness were gone for an instant, the true glory of the world and its meaning would be shown to us. The great light would not dazzle us with its clarity and force. And yet it would burst upon us, and within us, like a newer, greater sun.

The paradox of this light is that it is great, and gentle, and joyous. Everyone is free to gaze at it straight on and not be blinded or dazzled. Those who see it – who permit themselves to see it – are never afraid of it. Neither fear nor force is in it.

Christ’s love for us and His creation is that light. But the light is not a metaphor.

I think that St. Paul saw it, and I think that we can see it too, if we want to. It waits for us as we travel towards eternity. But it is also here, now, with us, to the end, and to the beginning.

BLAZING IN THE NIGHT

Fortune’s never far,
There to one who sees,
Shadows hide it not
Visible it is

Where is it and why?
How is it so near?
See it in the eye,
Sound it in the ear

Know it with the skin
Healing of a sting,
Sense it on the wind,
Round it as a ring

Nothing you must take,
Treasure you must spend,
Nothing you must make,
Something without end

Ring of what we long for,
Circle of the light,
Jewel of the Savior
Blazing in the night