My grandmother in the west of Ireland, God rest her soul, was just about 5 foot in her wellington boots. Until later in life, her house and farm had no gas, no running water or electricity. For light in the evening we relied on paraffin lamps which at night, and for us children who were used to electric lights, things were at best were dim and sometimes the lamps threw up lots of strange and disturbing shadows. Outside, with no street lighting, the sky was literally filled with a sheet of bright silver stars, a breath-taking and beautiful sight, one that I can still see in my mind’s eye; a sight that filled me with awe and wonder.

The absence of light can have a beauty all of its own but its distortions can provoke anxiety and have their own dangers. Total darkness can be terrifying; something that leaves us directionless and groping in the dark, perhaps that’s why we instinctively prefer to be in the light. That’s perhaps why we light things up when they are dark, even our streets.

People the world over, and over countless centuries, have sensed that things are not as they could and should be in our own lives, between each other, and in the world. People used images for this, including light and dark. We sense and experience the feeling of light and dark in ourselves – virtue and vice; grace and sin. In our lives everyday we experience this struggle of light and dark within is, we see it in the world around us.

In our tradition we hear that the people who walk in darkness see a great light; we speak of the light of Christ; the candles we use are symbolic of this. Jesus describes himself as the light of the world. A light which banishes shadows and cannot be overcome. It is a light that shows us our world in all of its wonder and love, but also its ugliness and pain. A light that illuminates our hearts, our minds and our souls in their beauty but also their pain and sin. But it is a light that the darkness of the Satan and his works cannot and will not overcome.

Jesus, the light of the world, invites us to share his light with him. But it is not only intended for us. He wants us to share it with our brothers and sisters who still live in a land of deep shadow.

How are we to do this? This Sunday Isaiah shows us way in which we can be beacons of the light of Christ in our lives and the world. In Sunday's reading from Isaiah we see an easy list to read but something which is hard to do. The people who live in the shadows can be hard for us to see; we somehow see them but they are invisible to us but they are there in plain sight. The people who sit in the doorways in our town; perhaps our neighbours who we know are there but we seldom see; maybe the image of the child on the charity poster of our little sisters and brothers waiting for their next square meal.

Where do we start? As much as we can by being generous, by being merciful and just. By taking pity on others. By doing what we can in giving to the poor.

Often it is not about the big extravagant gesture (good though that is) but the small acts of kindness, the little smile, acknowledging the person in front of us and by doing what we can. Small acts perhaps but a good way to eternal life. Acts that enable us to salt to the earth and light to the world.

God bless and keep you all with the assurance of my daily prayers for your intentions.

Fr Chris