Today marks the beginning of winter. It is the shortest day of the year. Tonight we sing:

“O Dawning Day, Splendor of Eternal Light, and long awaited Sun of Justice: Come, Lord, O come and enlighten those who are dwelling in darkness and in the shadow of death.” —Magnificat antiphon for December 21

The radiant light breaks through the darkness. In this antiphon, we see Jesus as the light. Light does two things: reveals and heals.

Light reveals. For people who have walked in darkness, Jesus comes to illuminate the way. When the light is revealed, no one is lost. We see everything as it ought to be. We see goodness as God intended it. We can walk toward a new Jerusalem.

Falling on the shortest day of the year, this O Antiphon pleads with creation for more light to come. It is as if we say to all creation, “Come sun, come longer days, bring us to the Spring Equinox. Brig us to the Paschal Feast.”

Light heals. The prophet Malachi gives this image of the Sun of Justice. The sun will appear on the Day of the Lord and will bring its healing rays to those who are faithful to God. Malachi poetically says:

But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

We were once like calves imprisoned in our stalls. When the sun appears, we will do the impossible as we leap and tread over our enemies.

This image of light gives the idea that the Rescuer has arrived and we unite our sentiments with the psalm, “They cried to the Lord in their need and he rescued them from their distress. He led them forth from darkness and gloom and broke their chains in pieces” (Psalm 107:14).

This image of light is the reassurance that his light will be the light that endures through all ages. Many years ago, I heard Father Jerome Young, OSB, conclude his homily with this prayer on Gaudete Sunday. He had prayed:

In this Advent, Lord, draw us to yourself, the Love Who set the stars in the heavens in motion, and Who will shine with the splendor of truth and beauty, after the last star’s light has waned, blinked and then gone out. ~ Fr. Jerome Young, O.S.B.

Light has shone, the Rescuer has arrived and longer days are ahead of us leading us to the Paschal feast of the Resurrection.

For your meditation this day. From the monks of Saint John’s Abbey:

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