“I have made your name known to them.”
We give you thanks, Father of lights (Jas 1:17), for having called us “out of darkness into your marvelous light” (1 Pt 2:9). We give you thanks because, by your word, you caused light to shine out of darkness and shine in our hearts to enlighten us by the knowledge of the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 4:6). Yes, the true light – and even more, eternal life – “is to know you, the only God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”
We know you because we know Jesus, for the Father and the Son are one (Jn 10:30). We know you by faith, it is true, and we hold this faith like a sure pledge that we shall know by seeing. Nevertheless, between now and then, increase our faith (Lk 17:5), lead us from faith to faith, from brightness to brightness as by the motion of your Spirit, so that each day we might penetrate more into the depths of light. Thus our faith will develop, our knowledge will be enriched, our love will become more fervent and more universal, until faith leads us to the encounter face to face.