Jesus, Light of the World

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Light of the World - by William Holman Hunt . . . .
Note that the door has no outside latch. We must open the
door from the inside to let the Light in.
 

 

Twenty Centuries have come and gone since His Thirty-Three Years on Earth, and today He is the Central Figure of the Human Race, ...the Leader of Mankind's Progress. All the Armies that ever marched, all the Navies that ever sailed, all the Parliaments that ever sat, all the Kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the Life of Man on Earth as much as One Solitary Life.

 

Jesus, Light of the World

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by
Father Marie-Dominique Phillipe, O.P.

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All Laws, Scientific and Moral, come from God

Jesus, the Beloved Son of the Father, tells us that He is the Light of the World. This is very important for us because all too easily we look on Jesus as the One Who Teaches us in the Supernatural Order. This is Normal, for He is the Son of God. But this creates Division or 'Separation'. Many Christians today live with that 'Separation'; there are Scientific Truths on the One Hand and Truths of the Faith on the Other. As well as One can, One tries to Relate the Two, forgetting that Scientific Truths - those that are Truly Scientific - as well as Philosophical and Psychological Truths we can acquire, all come from the same God Who also is Our Father and gave us His Beloved Son.

That God is Love and Light, is Affirmed Constantly in Holy Scripture; every Word of God is Light, hence Jesus, the Beloved Son of God, is the Word of God, the Fruit of His Contemplation, the Father's Contemplation. He is Truth and Light, and all His Teaching is Light, Enlightening us not only in our Divine Life, our Life of Faith of a Disciple of Christ, but He must Enlighten us concerning all the Truths that we can Acquire. The Wisdom which Jesus gives us, Teaches us Ultimate Truths and has Repercussions on the Whole of Human Life. Human Ethics, in fact the Whole of Human Life, calls out for the Inspiration of Jesus.

LightoftheWorld.jpg (161869 bytes) Jesus gives us the Divine Teaching that we are Children of God through Grace. He also gives a very Simple Teaching, His Practical Teaching: "There must be Adorers in Spirit and in Truth". Jesus unceasingly reminds us that He can Conform us to the Will of the Father. We cannot know the Will of the Father for us with Absolute Certainty, but we must Want to accomplish that Will Fully and have no other desire in our lives than the Fulfillment of the Will of the Father in order to be Fully Docile towards the Holy Spirit. To accomplish that, we must enter into a Divine Poverty, i.e. the Spirit of Jesus, a Wisdom 'Ordering' everything Perfectly.

We should as its First Necessity, clearly understand that Christian Life demands Adoration and Contemplation - the Contemplation of children living an Ever-Present Love in which we are continually being Born, and Living that Divine Life. It is Jesus Who gives us Complete Certitude that this is the Essence of Christian Life - to live in Obedience to God and in the desire of Fulfilling the Duties of our Vocation in Life. In the work we are called to do, we are Servants, Poor, Docile Servants, for we live above all to Glorify the Father and Help our Brothers and Sisters. Our Everyday Work through which we are Servants of God directly serves our Neighbors, Helping them to be fully themselves, so as to Satisfy their Need for Love as fully as possible. I believe that it is very important for you to understand this Teaching that the Light of the World, Jesus, gives us. The Truths of Psychology are Good, but they remain on a purely Human Level. The Truths of Philosophy are not Harmful - I would be the last to say that, for I have taught Philosophy all my life. Philosophical Truths are not only Good, they are Human Wisdom. It is important to recognize that we can discover the Existence of God by our Intelligence or Philosophical Reflection. There is a Greatness, an Intellectual Nobility involved in being able to discover the Existence of God, but our Intelligence should be Submissive to Faith. By that I mean that it must accept its Intrinsic Limitations, must accept the fact that it cannot explain everything nor reach all Levels of Meaning. For the Deepest Levels of Understanding can be attained only through the Inspiration of a Faith which comes from On High and Raises us, Raises our Intelligence and Will to Birth, to Life, on its Level. Being Born On High means Depending Directly on Jesus and on the Father.

Scientific Truths are Good, even Prestigious as we all know. All our marvelous contemporary Scientific Truths such as Biology have resulted in Enormous Technological Progress. That Technological Progress is fine, can and does help us, and should not be Opposed, but we should not allow it to Absorb our Attention so much that we no longer see that there is a Thirst for Contemplation in the Innermost Depths of ourselves, a need for Probing ever deeper into the Mystery of Jesus, the Light of the World.