Where I got the title…

St. Basil the Great wrote that the great sin of Adam and Eve, and of Satan before them, was inattention. A turning from God to paltry matters. He described it as a “turning from light into shadow.” Most of us humans spend a great deal of our time in the “shadows” of existence. Our days are filled with meaningless and trivial “duties.” We waste hours in front of a television. We are mesmerized and sterilized by violence, pornography, power, pride, and greed. We gaze repeatedly into shadows, and we seem surprised and even taken aback when one suggests that our glazed over countenances might be due to the frivolous and insipid nature of the object of our gazes.

St. Basil’s answer to this problem, the answer given by Jesus, St. Paul, and all the early Fathers of my Faith, was to gaze upon Christ. This “gaze” was not simply a mental looking, but a focused life. A reflection cannot help but look something like its source, and a soul will take on the appearance of the subject of its gaze.

The early Fathers spoke of our baptism as “illumination” and the “bath of enlightenment.” In the Sacrament of Baptism, I am brought into the Light which is Christ. In the Eucharist, I am to be fed with heavenly food, and thus sustained by Light. In Hebrews 6.4, the Christian writer speaks of those who have been “enlightened.” They are those who have “shared in the Holy Spirit” (the Fathers understood this to refer to Holy Baptism) and who have “tasted of the heavenly gift” (Holy Eucharist).

But the world is darkness. All around us, despite glimmers of light and hope that shine from various individuals and communities, there is a terrible proliferation of shadow. As in Tolkien’s Myth, all about may seem to be passing into Shadow. But, the Christian hope is that of Tolkien: “A light from the shadows shall spring.”

In the first chapter of St. John’s Evangel is found perhaps my most beloved biblical text:

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (NRSV)

We live in shadow, but we await the coming of a Great Dawn. In the present, we reflect the Light by transformed and illuminated lives, lives which strike fear in the hearts of those who love Shadow. It is fear of light that evokes retaliation from the Shadow. It is love of light that overcomes the fear of Shadow.

I want the path of my life to be one of a journey from shadow into light. As Tolkien said, “Not all those who wander are lost.” We in Christ are wanderers; we are pilgrims. Our lives, in the eyes of the powers and principalities of the Shadows of this Age, may seem paltry and insignificant. But they are not. They are the stories that reflect the true course of this Cosmos. They are the reflections of the True Light Who has come into the World. The World did not comprehend Him, and His Light, unconquered, bathes still all who turn their gaze upon Him.

Thus, the title of my blog. Like, love it, or laugh at it. But it is the hope that strengthens me to climb from my bed every morning after a short night, to work with my hands, to submit to the needs of my beloved family, and to humble myself as a servant of all. Those who journey from shadow into light will one day find rest, and what a rest it will be.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.