{"id":6390,"date":"2020-05-17T18:46:21","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T08:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6390"},"modified":"2020-06-08T15:48:32","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T05:48:32","slug":"finding-the-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/finding-the-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the Light"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Finding the Light<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a sermon by Fr David Shehata<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Passage: John 12:35-50 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years\nago, I wanted to get a great present for my household to make life easier. I\nthought a robotic vacuum would be the perfect solution. The sales man described\nit as a miracle solution, the entire house would be clean at the push of a\nbutton. It would take it a while to navigate and get around everything but in a\nfew weeks, it would know exactly where to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took it\nhome and tried to turn it on. I came back 30 minutes later and found it\nspinning in circles. I called the sales man and told him the issue and he said\nto give it a bit more time to adjust. I tried it in a different room, turned it\non and came back after 30 minutes to find it spinning in circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took it back to the sales man and he asked if I had been using it in day or the night, if I had the left the blinds closed or open. Turns out that because I had been leaving it in the dark, it didn\u2019t know where to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nreminds me of the Gospel of today. Sometimes in our lives we act robotically,\nwe only walk into areas where there are light. Have you ever tried to walk in\narea that is completely dark? Our lives are full of unseen territory, we don\u2019t\nalways know what will happen next year, next month or tomorrow even. Although\nwe can predict certain things, there is a good chance we may stumble if we\ncannot see clearly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Christ\ntells us, \u201cI am the light of the world.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless you\nare walking in the light, then there is a good chance that you will stumble. You\nmight just be going around in circles, and getting frustrated that you\u2019re not\nmoving forward. Walking in the light is something that the Lord stresses for He\nknows the importance of seeing for our own progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes\nsense, where the light is on, you can see where you\u2019re going. We are not\nfearful when we walk in the light, but fear begins when we are in darkness and\nwe cannot predict what is coming next. When we are in darkness, we are likely\nto fall into trouble. In the light, even if something bad is coming, it helps\nand it reassuring to see it first. Christ is telling us, \u201cI know life can have\ntribulation, but I am the light. Stay close to Me and I will guide you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we\nsay, \u201cLife is too hard\u201d \u2013 It is true, being Christian doesn\u2019t mean you won\u2019t be\nexposed to trouble and the tribulation of the world. Christ even said, \u201cnarrow is the gate and difficult is the way\nwhich leads to life.\u201d<\/em> He acknowledges the problem, and gives us the\nsolution, Yes, you will have hardship, but He is with you. He is the light of\nthe world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The devil may try to mimic the light by giving us assurance in the temporal. Our current times are the proof of that. So many that once relied on health, on riches, on success, may have found that this is now in jeopardy. God is always with us, and He is the light that remains constant in our lives. Nothing can diminish this light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other\nparts of the Gospel we hear Christ say, \u201cYou are the light of the world. <\/em><\/strong>A city that is set on a hill cannot be\nhidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand,\nand it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before\nmen, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.\u201d \u2013 <\/em>Matthew\n5:14-16<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord is\nthe source of light. If I am His son\/daughter, then I can\u2019t sit back and think\nthat my salvation is secured. There is no such thing as a passive Christian.\nWhen Christ resides in us, we reflect His light, His glory and the way, truth\nand life to rest of the world. The purpose of life is to be close to God, enter\ninto salvation and to to bring as many people with us as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beauty\nof our church is in the 2000 years of history of pillars of light. Both early\nsaints and modern day saints that have walking along a path. Every path is\ndifferent but the destination is the same \u2013 to be with Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Pope Kyrillos\nVI lived as an ascetic monk for three years in the mill. In that time, he says\nthat he, \u201csaw the light,\u201d and was transformed into the hero of our church. He\nsaw the light and then became the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The martyrs\nwere being convinced to renounce their faith but they were so filled with the\nlight that they would not let anything materialistic be taken away from them. On\nany Coptic icon, there is a gold metallic background. When you put a candle in\nfront of them it reflects the light. They don\u2019t emanate light but they reflect\nthe light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we ask\nourselves if we are truly Christian, a good test is to see how much we reflect\nChrist\u2019s light? My responsibility as a Christian is to reflect the light of\nChrist. Am I fulfilling that responsibility? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There can\nbe detrimental outcomes, like we see with St Augustine. His mother tried to\nbring him to Christ but when he would go to church and see how the Christians\nof the church acted, he wanted nothing to do with Christianity. This was until\nhe saw St Basil \u2013 a true example of Christianity. He was transformed from the\nmoment he saw the reflection of Christ\u2019s light in St Basil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is our\nresponsibility. What I say, what I do and the way I behave reflect my\nChristianity. Yes, I will fall, but how long does it take me to get back up\nagain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see an\nexample of what stopped the Pharisees from spreading Christ\u2019s light when St\nJohn recounts, \u201cNevertheless even among\nthe rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not\nconfess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the\npraise of men more than the praise of God<\/em>.\u201d \u2013 John 12:42-43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t it\nincredible that I can believe in something, have faith, but because of what\nother people say and other worldly consequences I am stopped? How many opportunities\nhave I had to preach, to follow the commandments and to spread the light of\nChrist? How many times do I second guess myself because of concerns I had for\nthe perception of others? This is easier said than done, but we can grow in\ncourage by spending time with Christ. When I spend time with Him, I grow in\nlove for Him and He becomes everything beautiful in life and all else becomes meaningless\nin comparison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord says, \u201cSeek ye first the kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you\u201d (Matthew 6:33). The things of the world will pass, they can never give us peace. Christ tells us, \u201cI am not coming to judge, but to bring you to the Father.\u201d Time spent with God is never regretted but in the last days, we will regret not taking the opportunity to spend time with Him. We pray and beg the Lord to help in joyful times that we see Him as the true light and we remain unmoved about the opinions of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udca1Full sermon<\/a>\ud83d\udca1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding the Light Adapted from a sermon by Fr David Shehata Passage: John 12:35-50 Many years ago, I wanted to get a great present for my household to make life easier. I thought a robotic vacuum would be the perfect solution. The sales man described it as a miracle solution, the entire house would be … Continue reading “Finding the Light”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[158,300,6,44],"class_list":["post-6390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-joy","tag-light","tag-love","tag-resurrection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6390"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6477,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions\/6477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}