BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL HAS SHARED THIS MESSAGE for Christmas. Christmas: Darkness gives way to Christ’s Light
I wake up very early most days. I rarely, if ever, have to set my alarm clock. I love the early morning when everything is peaceful and quiet. And in the silence of those first moments of the day, it seems that God and I have some of our best conversations. My mind is not cluttered with schedules and busyness. The crush of meetings, travel and the day’s activities appear far distant at that time, even though they are only a couple of hours away. I watch the dark of night slowly give way to the light of another day.
In the season of Advent, as Christmas as fast approaches, my thoughts and prayers turn to the mystery of our salvation: the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh. In many respects, what I experience very early each morning is not unlike what humanity experienced that first Christmas day.
When God actually created the world, no one really knows for sure. We only know that God did create it. God said, “Let there be light” and there was light – at least until man dimmed that light through original sin. And, so, humanity waited and waited, hoping that the light would be restored. The ancient Scriptures are filled with promises and predictions that it would be restored, and our faith was born from those prophecies. Slowly, ever so slowly, the darkness of the world gave way, and the Lord Jesus Christ was born: “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God” as we profess in the Creed each Sunday. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah foretold this marvelous moment in time:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who lived in a land of gloom a light has shone.