During his homily on Sunday at my church, our pastor spoke of the
proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel.” He framed the talk in the context
of a lot of bad news and several tragedies that have happened recently in our
local community, and with all the troubles in the world at large. The gloom and
doom scenarios he painted even cast a pall over my usually cheerful (and
sometimes unattentive?) young children. He spoke of parishioners who have asked
for his prayers for the various stresses and maladies in their lives. He spoke
of how, at times like these, we tend to focus on the walls in the tunnel as
opposed to the light at the end of the tunnel.
He tied this in with this time of year, December, our literal darkest
hours in terms of daylight. Trust me. As an early-morning jogger, I can attest
to the dark days of December. Finishing a jog at 6:40 a.m., enveloped in the
pre-dawn darkness for the entire hour, is all you need to know about December.
Contrasting the darkest days of the year are the various festivals of lights
that pepper our communities and our homes during the holiday season. The pastor
then spoke of the Advent season that Catholics and Christians celebrate during
these weeks in December. He spoke of how, with these lights and with the usual
festive nature of the season, we are all figuratively thumbing our nose at the
darkest days and the darkest hours of the year. The light at the end of the
tunnel is always there, he said; we just have to stop focusing on the walls. After
its downer of a beginning, it was a wonderful and uplifting message -- for this
and any time of the year.
And with that, I share this photo that was emailed to me from Kathy
Gould – members of our team, our figurative “shining lights” – standing together
in front of the newly illuminated tree on the Marist College campus, after attending
Sunday Mass in the chapel. No matter what your faith or beliefs, we hope this
photo will lighten your mood for at least a moment.
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