Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Light of the World

Friends, in our Gospel today, Jesus announces who he is: “I am the light of the world.”
In John’s Gospel there are a series of “I am” statements:
“I am the bread of life”; “I am the good shepherd”;
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” And here he issues another of those powerful claims:
“I am the light.”

Christianity is, above all, a way of seeing. Everything else in Christian life flows from and circles around the transformation of vision.
Christians see differently, and that is why their prayer, their worship, their action, their whole way of being in the world have a distinctive accent and flavor.

And Jesus is the way to see. When we are grafted onto him, when we assume his mind and his attitude,
when we live his life, we are able to see the world as it is,
and not through the distorting lens of our fear and our hatred.

+++Jesus spoke to them again, saying,
“I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.”
So the Pharisees said to him,
“You testify on your own behalf,
so your testimony cannot be verified.”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified,
because I know where I came from and where I am going.
But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
You judge by appearances, but I do not judge anyone.
And even if I should judge, my judgment is valid,
because I am not alone,
but it is I and the Father who sent me.
Even in your law it is written
that the testimony of two men can be verified.
I testify on my behalf and so does the Father who sent me.”
So they said to him, “Where is your father?”
Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father.
If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
He spoke these words
while teaching in the treasury in the temple area.
But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.+++

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