Light of the Church
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt
in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.”
If I may be permitted a slight diversion into the world of popular music, in
1973 the well-known English rock group Pink Floyd produced a recording with the
title “The Dark Side of the Moon”. At the end of this recording, one of the members
of the band, perhaps David Gilmore, says “Actually, there is no dark side of the moon
– it is all dark!” And he was perfectly correct. A few years before this, in 1970, the
then young Fr Joseph Ratzinger gave a talk in Bavaria attended by over 1000 people
entitled “Why I am still in the Church.” In order to address this question he explained
something of the nature of the Church using the symbolism of the sun and moon. This
symbolism does date back to the Church Fathers, St Ambrose in particular who wrote:
“The moon tells of the mystery of Christ.” Fr Ratzinger explained that the moon of its
nature does not have light of its own. Its nature consists of rocks and dust for that is
all we see when we probe it. Rather, it receives light from the light of the sun. The sun
of its nature is one great ball of gaseous fire which does emit light of its own. The
moon receives this light and reflects it. Similarly, the Church does not have light of its
own, but receives its light from the one who is the Light of the World, from Jesus
Christ.
St Matthew takes a text from the prophet Isaiah in order to explain the mystery
of Christ. The text is from the so called ‘Book of Emmanuel’, the most beautiful
Messianic writings in the Old Testament. At the Christmas vigil Mass we have from
the Gospel of Matthew quoting a text from this Isaiahian Book of Emmanuel referring
to the birth of Christ fulfilling the prophecy: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear
a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.” Now today we have St Matthew
quoting another text from this Book Emmanuel: “The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.” By claiming this is a fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy, St
Matthew is indicating that Jesus is the Messiah, that He is truly God-with-us as the
name Emmanuel signifies, that He is truly God. His nature is Light, Divine Light, as
St John tells us, for in Him there is no darkness at all.
Today, St Matthew describes the calling of the first disciples of Jesus: Peter
and Andrew, who are brothers, and then James and John, who are also brothers. It is
interesting to see how he gathers to Himself two families. This is the beginning of the
foundation of the Church, a people called to become the family of God. Later in His
Sermon on the Mount He will tell them explicitly “You are the light of the world”.
But they are such, we are such, only to the extent that we are disciples and followers
of Jesus. Of our nature, although we are created in the image and likeness of God, we
are not this light. We can only radiate it because we have received it from God, from
Jesus, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In this way, as St Paul will say, the
Church is the Body of Christ. We receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the Body of
Christ in Holy Communion for the up-building of the Church.
The sun-moon symbolism can also be used to explain the relationship between
the Blessed Virgin Mary and God. Although she is fully human with no Divine
Nature, nevertheless as she is sinless, she perfectly reflects the Divine Light from
within her. She is therefore an icon of what the Church is called to be and is becoming
in so far as she, the Church, is united to Christ. And this is the sense in which we can
pray in the Creed that we believe in “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
Nevertheless, as we know all too well, the Church is comprised of people, all
of us, who are sinners. And we are rightly scandalized when we read of some of the
activities of its members, including members of the Church’s hierarchy.
Consequently, people live in despair at all this and look for some sort of hope. Where
can we find hope today? Should we give up and abandon the Church altogether and
just try and live good lives as best we can?
Again, Fr Ratzinger explains that a confusion has arisen between thinking of
the Church simply as ‘our Church’. But this is to forget, or perhaps not even be aware
of the fact that at its deepest level, the Church is Jesus’ Church. Fr Ratzinger states: “I
am in the Church because I believe that now as ever and irrevocably through us, ‘His
Church’ lives behind ‘our Church’ and that I can stand by Him only if I stand and stay
in His Church. I am in the Church because, despite everything, I believe that she is at
the deepest level not ‘our’ but precisely ‘His’ Church.” But if this is the case, why
therefore is there so much sin in His Church? Why does He permit all this to happen?
Again from St Matthew’s Gospel, recall the parable of the weeds and the wheat.
When the servants asked their master if they should gather up all the weed, the master
replied: “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.” To
focus only on the reality of sin in the Church is not to see the big picture of her reality.
It is like seeing only the rocks and dust on the moon without seeing the light she
reflects from the sun. How do we see the light of the Church in the midst of all the
darkness? Reflect on these two questions: “What is the greatest proof for the existence
of God?” and “What is the greatest evidence of the holiness of the Church?” The
answer, I suggest, is the same to both questions: the lives of the saints. We should
therefore be studying constantly seeking to imitate their lives. These are the people,
most especially Our Lady, who reflect the Light of Christ. We see this most especially
through loving – by loving God and our neighbour. As Fr Ratzinger stated: “A man
always sees only as much as he loves.” “The venture of love is the prerequisite for
faith. If it is ventured, then one does not have to hide from the dark areas in the
Church.” It is impossible to escape from the wounded Church. As St Ignatius of
Loyola once said: “Love the Church – warts and all!” Let us pray daily to the Holy
Spirit as our Bishop Philip has asked. Can there be unity? Yes, for “Christ always
gives His Church the gift of unity”, the Catechism states, “But the Church must
always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for
her.” We do this especially now during the octave for Christian unity. We must pray
and ask for God’s grace for our own conversion and healing. May the Holy Spirit,
Our Lady and all the saints assist us always in our search for unity, light and peace.