God’s Unfading Glory – Hope Amidst Darkness

During Advent 2021, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, then Bro. Simon Ho reflected on the source of our hope amidst the darkness. He reminded us to “live in a way that makes others, our colleagues and our students, wonder wherein lies the source of our hope.” Two years on, we are now in the post-Covid normal. Some things have changed. Others have not. Is God’s Unfading Glory still our hope amidst the darkness? 

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2021 has been a challenging year for everyone, but even more so for educators. Remembering my time as a teacher, we feel a sense of accomplishment when we see the smiles on our children’s faces after they have mastered something difficult, or overcome a challenge that they had thought was their limit. But now we can’t see their smiles because their faces are covered up by masks. We are fired up not simply to teach our subjects, but to teach young people. But now social distancing has also meant reduced opportunities for interactions among students and teachers. We feel we know a lot less about our children and youth. Our sense of purpose as educators seems to be challenged: what does it mean to teach in the Covid-19 endemic? Instinctively we know that we are not just here to finish the syllabus and get them through the exams… and hope for the best.

And this sense of discomfort is right, because as Catholic educators, we are called to reveal by our lives and teaching, the one Teacher, Jesus Christ, who is always interested in and saves the whole person. Whatever the circumstances we are in, we are invited to show in our interactions with our students and fellow teachers, that even amidst our less-than-ideal conditions, we can try new ways, using our human ingenuity supported by grace, to cooperate with God to know and form the whole child. We are challenged to live in a way that makes others, our colleagues and our students, wonder wherein lies the source of our hope.

Yet hope can seem dim because we ourselves are in difficult circumstances. But let Christmas this year remind us that hope can be passed along precisely only by those who share in the condition of darkness. God could have stayed up in heaven and saved humanity from above, sending help to His people when they cried to Him for help, as He sometimes did in the Old Testament. But that would mean that our trials and tribulations would remain devoid of God’s presence. So, God Himself did not stay up there in the heavens, but came down into our broken world and shared in our seemingly hopeless situation. The world Jesus was born into was a difficult and dangerous one: Herod was a ruthless, insecure king who was ready to do whatever it took to eliminate any threat to his rule. Israel was under the control of the Romans who did not look kindly on the Jews and treated them with contempt. Even among the Jews, there were struggles between sects and factions for influence and power. Yet it was into this volatile mix of politics and intrigue, tiredness and danger that the Father set as the opportune time for His Son to be born into the world, so that in truth the people who walked in darkness may see a great light (cf. Isaiah 9:1), so much so that St. Paul would say that Jesus’ incarnation happened “when the fullness of time had come” (Galatians 4:4) — when all that should be fulfilled has been fulfilled — the right time that God has been preparing for.

Jesus entered the world precisely when and where it was dark to bring God’s presence and light into the darkness and show us how to walk even when it remains dark. And Christmas reminds us that He did so by becoming a helpless little baby, who could not even defend Himself. Jesus had to rely on others, especially Joseph and Mary, and certainly many other unnamed people the Holy Family met along their journey, to help and shelter them. The absence of light, of the joys and consolations we have been used to, is not necessarily a sign of God’s absence. As the Father had provided what was needed to the Holy Family in those dark days after Christmas, He will also provide us with what we need, in prayer and through the people He has placed around us; but we must surrender ourselves as Jesus did in his littleness, and let go of our notions of success and control. Jesus has conquered the darkness, not by eliminating it, but by making it into a servant to bring about good.

If we look up into the heavens, there are plenty of stars up in the sky every moment; but we do not see them because the light is too bright around us. It is only when it is night, when darkness envelops us, that the beauty of the stars shining in the darkness beyond can be revealed to us in all its beauty. Then the daylight no longer masks heavens’ glory which only darkness can reveal. The darkness of the difficulties we have experienced together these past two years can seem overwhelming. But if we lift up our eyes, to heaven yes, and also to the Cross: gazing on the example of our Saviour Jesus Christ, listening to His word and living by what He has taught and showed us, we will discover His presence with us which strengthens us, enlightens us and gives us hope even when challenges continue to fraught our ways.

This Christmas, may we discover the beauty of that unfading glory which comes from following Jesus, who made Himself small amidst the terrifying forces of darkness, but who ultimately is the True Light and Saviour of the world.