THOSE IN DARKNESS HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT

THOSE IN DARKNESS HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT

Fr Luke A Veronis

“The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.” These are the words of hope that the Church proclaims today.

Such words of encouragement are not only for a time long ago. They describe what God continues to do in our lifetime. This is the meaning of Theophany - God revealing Himself; God stepping into the murky waters of our world; God bringing divine light and hope into human darkness.

We look out into our society and world every day, at all that is happening around us, and we are tempted with despair and hopelessness. We think, what has happened to our world? Where is the America we believed in? And yet, the world has always been one of confusion and even darkness.

In the Jordan River, Christ does not avoid the fallenness of creation. He enters it. He sanctifies the waters, not because the waters were sinful, but because everything touched by human life needs healing. This is why today we bless the waters and anoint everyone with holy water. We proclaim that nothing in creation is beyond God’s redeeming presence.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, whose memory we celebrated yesterday, reflects deeply on this mystery when he tells us that Christ enters the waters so that “by His immersion, He might illumine the depth of human life.” In other words, Christ does not remain on the surface of our existence. He goes down into our depths - into our fears, weaknesses, sinfulness, and even death itself - and from there He shines forth His light!

The Gospel says the people were sitting in darkness. Darkness has a way of making us settle in. We grow accustomed to it. Darkness leads us to accept anxiety, division, resentment, hatred, and even spiritual laziness or indifference as normal. St. Gregory warns us to wake up and not allow the Christian life to remain static. He famously says, “The true vision of God is an ever-moving ascent into His Kingdom.” We are always called forward, always called deeper, always called into greater light.

The blessing of the waters today reminds us of our baptism. Many of us were illumined as infants. Yet, our illumination was not meant to remain a memory of the past. It is a life we embrace and continue to live each day.

This truth becomes even clearer when we look to St. Anthony the Great, whose feast we celebrate on Saturday. St. Anthony withdrew into the desert, not because the world was dark, but because he wanted to confront the darkness in his soul head-on. He understood that the greatest spiritual battles are fought within the human heart.

When St. Anthony was asked how he endured so many trials with the dark demons of his soul, he simply said, “I saw the snares of the enemy spread across the earth, and I sighed, saying, ‘Who can pass through these?’ Then I heard a voice say to me, ‘Only with Humility can we avoid the snares of the evil one.’”

St. Anthony didn’t flee the darkness. He allowed the light of Christ to transform him from within and overcame the darkness in his soul. He wrestled with his demons and passions, and through his struggle, he showed a path that brought countless others into the light.

This is the Divine Light that dawns at Theophany. Not a light that ignores the world’s troubles and suffering, but a Divine Light that enters into the darkness and enlightens it. Not a light that blinds us, but a light that reveals His Truth and calls us to deep and sincere repentance, healing, and renewal.

How fitting, then, that on this day we remember the blessing of the waters, we also bless the Vasilopita Bread to begin another new year.

The New Year often tempts us to look ahead with anxiety and uncertainty, or backward with regret. Yet the Church invites us to do something different, to place time itself into God’s hands. The blessing of the Vasilopita and our prayer for the Lord’s blessing for the New Year is a proclamation that Christ is already present in the days ahead, even before we step into them.

St. Gregory of Nyssa reminds us that every moment can become a meeting place with God if we allow ourselves to be illumined. And St. Anthony teaches us that holiness is not found in extraordinary circumstances, but in humble faithfulness each day.

In the Vasilopita Bread, we hide a coin as a reminder that God’s grace often comes hidden, quietly and unexpectedly. The true blessing of our Lord is not chance or fortune, but the steady presence of Christ, guiding us through another year of life.

Remember, Theophany proclaims that Christ has entered the murky waters of the world, Christ has revealed God as Holy Trinity (this communion of love), and Christ has brought light into the darkness.

May the blessing of the waters today renew our baptismal calling. May the witness of the saints, like Saints Gregory of Nyssa and Anthony the Great, remind us that growth in Christ never ends. And may our new year be a journey without fear and full of Divine Light and Holy Illumination from darkness into light, from stagnation into life, from the shadow of death into the radiant presence of our Risen Lord.