Today's Gospel

Your Light vs Your Dark

What is it that the Holy Spirit draws your attention to today? Is there a word? Is there a phrase? Is there an idea? For me, it's this phrase, "They did to him whatever they pleased." So Elijah came, John the Baptist came, and they did to him whatever they pleased. Now, when we read this, the, "They," is usually somebody else. The, "They," is these people out there, these people over there, not people like me, not my people, not my friends. No, it's, "They." And it got me to thinking, like, okay, these people, they mistreated John the Baptist. Who do I mistreat? Maybe it's even unintentional. Maybe it's because I'm lazy. Maybe it's because I'm proud. Maybe it's because I'm—I don't know. But who do I mistreat? I'm sure I mistreat somebody. I'm sure it happens a lot more often than I'm even aware of. But when we read it, we don't necessarily think of ourselves as the ones doing the mistreating. And that's a level that we need to get into as reflecting on the Scriptures.

I used to have this great spiritual director, a very holy man, a priest. And he taught me, like when I was 16. He said, "Matthew, when you read the gospel, you need to see yourself in each and every single person in the gospel." I mean, 16 right? I would be like, "Well, I don't know, Father, I can't really see myself doing that." He says, "Okay, maybe you can't see yourself doing that, but you at least need to be aware that you are capable of it." It's a brilliant insight. Everything in here, you and I, human beings, we are capable of it. And we might read some of this stuff, especially in the Old Testament, and think, "Well, no, it never happened." It might never happen, but that doesn't mean we're not capable of it.

In our hearts, we are capable of everything that happened. Every horrible thing that happens in here, we are capable of in our hearts. Every good thing that happens in here, we are capable of in our hearts. We're capable of everything good in here because we're creating the image and likeness of God. And His goodness, it lives through us, it shines through us, it works through us. But we're capable of every horrible thing in here because we're disobedient. We're fallen. We don't want to follow the leader. We want to be the leader. We don't want to do what we're told. We want to tell other people what to do. And so, we're capable. What we are capable of in our hearts, we need to be mindful of that, the light and the dark. Why? Because if we close ourselves off to our potential on the dark side, we will close ourselves off to our potential on the bright side. And our capacity to carry the light of Christ into the world is inconceivable to most of us most of the time. Let's go out in the world today and bring the light of Christ into the world in a new way, in a brighter way, in a bolder way. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.