Banishing Darkness

I was very much taken by the opening words of the HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI for the MASS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER, which according to custom he celebrated in the Basilica of St John Lateran, on Holy Thursday evening, 5 April 2012:

“Holy Thursday is not only the day of the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, whose splendour bathes all else and in some ways draws it to itself. To Holy Thursday also belongs the dark night of the Mount of Olives, to which Jesus goes with his disciples; the solitude and abandonment of Jesus, who in prayer goes forth to encounter the darkness of death; the betrayal of Judas, Jesus’ arrest and his denial by Peter; his indictment before the Sanhedrin and his being handed over to the Gentiles, to Pilate. Let us try at this hour to understand more deeply something of these events, for in them the mystery of our redemption takes place.

Jesus goes forth into the night. Night signifies lack of communication, a situation where people do not see one another. It is a symbol of incomprehension, of the obscuring of truth. It is the place where evil, which has to hide before the light, can grow. Jesus himself is light and truth, communication, purity and goodness. He enters into the night. Night is ultimately a symbol of death, the definitive loss of fellowship and life. Jesus enters into the night in order to overcome it and to inaugurate the new Day of God in the history of humanity.”

I cannot help but think of the Ignatian invitation to rally to the banner of Christ, to choose His cause, to volunteer to fight at the side of Jesus.

Not only the darkness, but the sepulchral silence of Holy Saturday should remind every soldier of Christ of the earnestness of the fight. Soon the trumpets and alleluias will sound and the light of our victorious King will shine forth dispelling darkness, fear, and incertitude.

The Holy Father speaks of “the new Day of God in the history of humanity”. Let us rally to His side and as we read in 2 Peter 3, let us with expectation each do our part to hasten the coming of that new day:

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI