“Now this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, but men preferred darkness to light, because their deeds were evil” (Jn. 3:20).
Newsroom (22/03/2022 09:06, Gaudium Press) Belief does not mean passively accepting a set of truths without concrete implications for our particular existence. In the words of St. James: “Faith, if it has no works, is dead” (Jas 2:17).
Whoever believes must draw up a plan for Christian life in order to imitate Our Lord, adapting His mentality, intelligence, will and sensitivity to Him, in the disposition to always progress in this union.
If faith moves mountains (cf. Mt. 21:21), it also produces extraordinary effects – and much more! – in the soul that possesses it, giving it the necessary energy for all kinds of good works.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son” (Jn. 3:19).
On the other hand, this categorical affirmation of Jesus emphasizes how much He is a rock of scandal and a divider, according to which men choose between Heaven or hell.
The opposition between light and darkness
It is not exactly a question of a struggle, which occurs when there is a confrontation and resistance between two forces. This is not the case between light and darkness: when light is present, darkness disappears.
God, “the true Light which has come into the world and gives light to every man” (Jn. 1:9), is Good. Evil, on the other hand, exists only in those who turn away from the light or rise up against it; it consists, therefore, in the absence of good.
When a person follows a path contrary to what is good, true, and beautiful, he turns away from the light and enters into darkness. And this happens even to persons endowed with abundant intellectual light.
Indeed, demons and the damned also keep their intelligence in hell, for it is a natural light, quite different from the light par excellence of which Our Lord speaks, which is capable of penetrating deep into the soul and leading us to understand something about God.
“He who does evil hates the light and does not approach the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (Jn. 3:21).
Here is a terrible constant in a soul given over to sin: the aversion to everything that reminds one of righteousness and virtue, especially to those who, because they are more advanced on the path of holiness, reflect with greater intensity the Light that is God.
How often we perceive that someone is going badly because of the indignation he shows towards a good person!
In fact, no one adheres to evil, to error, and to ugliness as such. When a person wants to prevaricate, to waver, he needs to construct a doctrine to justify his bad conduct, and if he comes to the light, this rationalization will fall to the ground.
It is like someone who, on entering a party, notices a stain on his own clothes and tries not to expose himself to the light in order to avoid others seeing his situation.
If, on the other hand, there is integrity and a desire to conform oneself to God, nothing causes greater joy than living with those who, because they have loved the Light so much, have themselves become light for others.
Which path shall we choose?
Happiness is not to be found on the path away from God, whose end is the “Babylon” of sin and divine punishment. If “every man who gives himself over to sin is its slave” (Jn. 8:34), whoever embarks on this path becomes a prisoner of a “Nebuchadnezzar” much worse than the historical tyrant: the devil, who hates God and His work, and for this reason wants the destruction of men.
God forbid that we should follow the paths of this slavery! On the contrary, may the Lord grant us the grace to choose the paths of freedom, serving Him, the source of the only true joy.
And we will only obtain it after going through the difficulties of life, giving more and more of ourselves, completely and without looking back. All the saints, Our Lady, and our Lord Jesus Christ Himself conducted themselves in this manner; not a drop of blood remained in Our Lord’s Body.
May Mary most holy obtain for us, through Her omnipotent intercession before Jesus, the joy of being children of the Church, and therefore immensely loved and forgiven, provided we acknowledge our faults with sorrow and place them confidently in the embers of divine love. In this way, the Most Precious Blood of Christ and the extraordinarily holy tears of Our Lady will be poured over our souls, giving them a fragrance pleasing to God.
Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, EP
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
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