Knowledge of the Light
by CONSTANTIN C. ȘTEFAN
Bucovina Lodge, no. 69, Suceava
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:1-9) In the first verses of the Gospel he wrote, Saint John Evangelist, being inspired by the Holy Ghost, presents in a concise and compelte way the second person of the Holy Trinity, the God-son, embodied in time in the person of the Redeemer Jesus Christ, restorer of the fallen way of man. Saint John Evangelist specifies clearly the role of John the Baptist in the iconomy of the work of saving the human race, as a precuros, a witness of the present of the Divine Light in the world, the living Word. The prophet of prophets, Jesus of Nazareth, began preaching His teachings in Galilee. The inhabitants of Galilee were looked on by those of Judea as being in the dark, because they, the ones from Judea, considered themselves the only keepers of the Law that God had given to Moses on the Mount Sinai and were proud of the prophets of the Old Testament and the Temple in Jerusalem. The teaching of Christ rose over the reaches of that land as a great light. He Himself had said about Himself that he is the Light of the world (John 8:12). At the celebration of Nativity, the Church names in its hymnals the Saviour Jesus Christ: The sun of justice, The sunrise from above, The light of knowledge. Any true knowledge is a light to the human mind and the lives of men. The light of science discovers to man the laws and energies of the universe andhelps him to use these laws and these energies for the bettering of his life. The progress of mankind shows us which are the fruits of the light that are brought by science. This light springs from the efforts of the human mind and reaches deeper into the mysteries of nature. The powerof the mind is a virtue of man. Jesus did not come, however, to reveal to us scientific truths, which the human mind finds out, but He came to discover the God-father, to lead us toward the knowledge of the divine light, so that in that we have eternal life. He Himself said: And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (John 17:3). We witness that Jesus Christ was Light from light, True God from True God, because He discovered to us the truth about the God-father, about His holy will, the true teaching about salvation, about eternal life. The Savior Jesus Christ is The Light not only as Teacher, but also as complete moral model for men. Through the life He lived, virtue, as a force to do good deeds, appears as an internal light which sheds as serenity and beauty on the faces of those who fulfill the good. This kind of men spread around them the light of goodness. The Savior Jesus Christ was not only a man, but He is the embodied God, God and man. In His person we find not only a ray of goodness, as would be found in any man, but He is the Sun of justice, Holiness itself, Divine goodness, whence springs the wealth of all the rays of Christian virtues. Each virtue that florishes in the life of each one of us is a ray from the Unsetting sun of divine Goodness. The Savior Jesus Christ is permanently present in the life of His Church, in the life of His faithful. He is Light for us because we follow His right teaching and His commands are the torches for our feet. He is a torch to us because through the Holy Mysteries He abides in us, makes us part of His holiness, His love, His goodness and He helps us through the light of divine grace to have His feelings, to be alike to Him, to love as He loved, to be good and kind as He was, meek as He was, self-sacrificing and patient like Him. Jesus Christ is light also through the saints, who are examples for our lives and in which shines the Light of Christ. Since Christ came to us as a Great light, as a Sun of justice, we must behave as Sons of Light (John 12:36), to spread around us the light of love, of peace, of justice, of charity, so that our lives be luminous, that they do not pass without meaning, to be worthy of receiving the eternal light, the light enjoyed by the righteous in: the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it. (Revelations 21:23).
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