It’s that time of year again! Beginning of the school year; a fresh, new start! It’s also that time of year where I share with you all what our school theme at Bishop Stang is going to be! Last year we were guided by the theme to “Rejoice in Hope.” Going into the year, we had the hope that there would be some normalcy coming back. We tried. But now this year, we are ready to “Be the Light.” Regardless if we are a still masked, still keeping some distance, we need to take ownership for the joy and the goodness that we have been missing for a while.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus reminds us that we are called to be the light. In chapter five, verses 14 through 16 we read, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven.” We are the light of the world because He first put the light in us. In the same way that we are reminded to be the Body of Christ, we too, are meant to share His light.
What I love about this call to be the light is when you think about why you turn on a light, it is never to make the light known. We use light to find things or to find a way. When we enter a dark room, we turn on the light so we do not walk into anything. When we drop something under the bed, we turn on the flashlight to seek it out. The same is with the Light of Christ. When we shine our light out to the world, we are helping ourselves and others find a way through the darkened world. We are helping to light a path for people to find Christ. We are often that flashlight for people who have felt lost and let them know that God is still right here, He is still with them.
Light needs a source to pull from: the wick of a candle, electricity, heat. The same goes for us. When we think about how the moon lights up the darkness of night, it does so because it is reflecting the sun. We are called to reflect the Son as well. There is a song I heard a few months back by Chris Tomlin called, “Be the Moon.” In the chorus of the song, he sings,
“I wanna be the moon, up among the stars
Fly around the world
Lighting up the dark at night
I’m nothing without the Son’s amazing grace
On everything I do
If You’re shining on me, I’m shining right back for You
I wanna be the moon
Lord, I wanna be the moon for You”
He reminds us that it is our calling to shine the light of grace that He pours out on us, to all those who we encounter. This light can go a long way. In the Gospel of John, we read that there is no light that can be defeated by the darkness. Ten out of 10 times, light wins! So when we look around this world and we see sickness, and destruction, and violence and when think, where is the light of Christ is this darkened world, we need to throw away that bushel basket, get up on that lampstand, a reflect the Son to all the world. In doing so, they will see how great our God really is!
Anchor columnist Amanda Tarantelli has been a campus minister at Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth since 2005. She is married, a die-hard sports fan, and resides in Cranston, R.I. She can be reached at atarantelli@bishopstang.org.
