Have courage, be a light!

740 BC, Jerusalem:
Isaiah ben Amoz, a great prophet among the people of Israel, reacts to the impoverishment of large sections of the population with sharp social criticism. He claims "right and justice" for the poor and makes Israel's survival dependent on it. He prophesies about ONE who will come: "Behold, this is my servant! I, the Lord, have created you and appointed you to be the covenant for my people and light for the nations, to open blind eyes, and to deliver all who sit in darkness (Isa 42:6 -7; 49:6).

7 BC, Jerusalem:
A young couple brings their baby to the temple to offer the prescribed purification sacrifice - nothing spectacular. But a memorable encounter takes place: the aged prophetess Hannah and the elderly Simeon, two God-fearing people, recognise in the newborn the chosen one who will bring salvation - not only for Israel, but for the whole world. For both of them, a long yearning is fulfilled. Simeon is so fulfilled that he can now die in peace - for his "eyes have seen salvation, the light that enlightens the Gentiles."

02 February 1945, Berlin-Plötzensee:
Execution of Alfred Delp SJ, 37 years old, member of the Kreisau Circle, a resistance group against National Socialism. During his imprisonment he writes a diary with his hands tied. He writes about freedom, about the powerful - and about joy. One of his sentences becomes a common saying: "If a little more light came into our lives and into our world through a man, then his life had a meaning".

20 January 2021, Washington:
Inauguration of Joe Biden - in a state of emergency, not only because of the Corona standoff. The recently survived threat to democracy from a spree-less insurgency is in everyone's bones. Amanda Gorman, 22, activist and poet, recites a poem, full of power and symbolism. She ends with a sentence that will go around the world within a short time: "There is always light, if we are brave enough to see it - if we are brave enough to be it!"

For hundreds of years we have longed for light, for salvation. For hundreds of years it has been threatened - the light and salvation. People always sit in the shadow of death. And sometimes we are gripped by horror, fear and powerlessness.

02 February 2021, the place where we live, you and me:
We live with shadows, we live with threats. But we carry the light within ourselves: "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1Cor 3:16).   

Have courage, be a light!

Sr. Martina Selmaier