Homily for 5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
February 8/9, 2020
Sacred Heart, EGF – Saturday 5:00 PM; Sunday 8:00 AM

Focus:             You are the light of the world.
Function:         Let your light shine.

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Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

 Two extremes in Christianity, neither is the gospel.

1. Doing good deeds SO THAT they may be seen.
   • “Look at me; look at me; look at me”
   • “Look how holy I am”
   • Impure motivation: the goal is to be seen
   • The focus is not Christ; the focus is me.

2. Not doing good deeds so that I may remain hidden
   • Doing so in the name of humility – the opposite vice of #1. A false humility
   • “playing small”
   • Mediocrity

The Christian way: Let your light shine, so that they may see your good deeds.

Let it shine.

Christ is the light of the world.
He dwells in your soul because of your baptism.
He wants to shine within you.
He wants to break out of you and to bring light to those in darkness.

Brothers and sisters,
There’s a lot of responsibility that goes with being the light of the world.[i]
Too often we are afraid to shine.
Too often we afraid to stand out, to draw attention to ourselves.
“Let your light shine” not “force your light to shine to draw attention to yourself”

“Let it“ is passive.
Allow it, don’t force it.

Let your light shine, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

Become who you were made to be. A Saint!

Be a person who spends time with Jesus,
be a person who prays,
and then let God do with you what he will.

Don’t stand in his way. Don’t stifle the spirit. Don’t play small.
Your playing small doesn’t glorify God.

How do we play small?

When we focus on “not being darkness” instead of on “letting our light shine”.

Sometimes we sin more by “what we have failed to do” than by “what we have done”.[ii]

• Sins of commission are easier to see.
  • The Ten Commandments.
  • “What I’ve done but shouldn’t have done”
  • The works of darkness
• Sins of omission – “what I should have done but did not do”.
  • Corporal and spiritual works of mercy
  • The Beatitudes
  • The works of light

We are called to so much more in life than “don’t sin”. We are called to love!
We are called to so much more in life than avoiding darkness. We are called to be light!

How do we let our light shine?

Simply be a person who prays and then do your part in the situations that present themselves to you. Do that, and your light will shine.

Let your light shine.

The Christian is a candle, the flame is Christ. A candle’s purpose is to let the light shine. It doesn’t make it shine, it lets it shine.

Victor Frankl: “what is to give light must endure burning.”

The Paschal Mystery: the candle dies to itself to bring life and light to others.
So must the Christian, the light-bearer. We die to ourselves so that others may live.
Charity – dying to ourselves for the good of the other.

…

Brothers and sisters, is your light still shining? Is your candle burning? Or has it burnt out?

Light doesn’t fight darkness as in a back-and-forth boxing match. Light dispels darkness where it’s present, and even a small candle in a dark room dispels a lot of darkness.

Do small things, but don’t play it small.
Do small things with great love.

You have the light within you – let it shine!
Ask him what he wants you to do, then do it!
Be not afraid of the darkness, light cannot be overcome by darkness! The light always overcomes the darkness.

Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

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[i] Fr. Ron Knott, Conference for Priests of the Diocese of Crookston on “The Jonah Complex: The Convenience and Selfishness of Playing Small”, June 11, 2019.

[ii] Fr. Ron Knott, Conference for Priests of the Diocese of Crookston on “The Jonah Complex: The Convenience and Selfishness of Playing Small”, June 11, 2019.