“Jesus went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali…In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled: The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light.”

The land, humbled in the past, “Galilee of the nations”, now becomes the place where Jesus, the incarnate Word/Son of God, lives and first proclaims his message of the reign of God. The people that lived in darkness see a great light.

Scientists today tell us of the primordial flaring forth, the light/energy billions of times more intense than anything we could ever imagine and from which came to be everything that would ever exist. God said: Let there be light. And there was light. And so creation began.

As Jesus, God’s Word-made-flesh, walks in Galilee, a new beginning is taking place, or rather the first beginning is being brought to its fullness. On those who dwell in the land and shadow of death the light is dawning, new light, new energy. “Repent”, Jesus says, “the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”. The reign of God is at hand.

Jesus sees two brothers, and then another two. He calls them and they follow, drawn by the light.

Jesus goes round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the reign of God and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness.

The people who lived in darkness see a great light.

Who are the people today whose presence is light to those who live in darkness? Who are the ones who proclaim Good News and bring healing? Who are the people whose presence calls us to leave our fishing boats –the things we value and on which we depend - and become part of the proclamation of the Good News of God’s reign?

I remember the young sister, whose coming to “settle” in Trinidad to teach Mathematics at my school many years ago brought light to me, a Form Two student struggling to make sense of problems in arithmetic.

Her kindness, her joy, her clarity, her simplicity and her love for God radiated light and brought out the light within me. I began to understand clearly what had been so difficult before.

Like Jesus she went about proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, bringing light and healing to people like me, who “lived in darkness”, and her light drew others to want to leave their ‘boats’ and follow.

I think also of Bernadette Laughlin-Scott and of the light radiated through her and the Love Movement which has touched so many lives, bringing out the light within.

I think of the Tall Man Foundation and its leaders in Gonzales, bringing forth the light, the creativity in each one. I think of people like the Mustard Seed community and Fr Richard Ho Lung’s Missionary Brothers of the Poor in Jamaica, as well as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and her Missionaries of Charity.

I think of Mayotte O’Connor and her life-work in Arima. I think of the Liberian young women, in the aftermath of the destruction left by civil war, coming to Trinidad to be trained as Corpus Christi Carmelites and returning to their homeland to bring light and healing.

And there are so many others, individuals and groups. There is light rippling through the darkness all around, inviting us to let ourselves be drawn into the light, to leave our boats and follow .

Let us pray
God of Light! God who is Light! God bringing forth light! Thank you for light. Thank you for a universe, seething with creativity and with healing, life-giving potential.

Thank you for those who dare to be light walking through our Galilee proclaiming the kingdom of heaven and healing all kinds of diseases and sickness of mind, soul or body.

Forgive us the times we close our eyes and shut out the light. It is too blinding, too uncomfortable. It is calling us to become light, to let light radiate through us, and we are afraid of what that may mean. It seems easier to remain in the boats to which we are accustomed and to continue complaining about the darkness all around.

Beloved God! Shine through our darkness. Ripple through us, breaking down our defenses. Open our eyes. Remove our fears. Enable us to hear your voice, to leave our boats and follow. Amen

Gospel Meditations for January are by Christina Araujo OP, a Sinsinawan Dominican who presently coordinates the Total Parish Catechesis programme in the Holy Rosary/St Martin de Porres parish.