Not radical enough

 ‘…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven ....’ (Matt 5:16)

Matthew 5:13-20 (Year A: 4^th Sunday before Lent Sunday 5^th February 2017)

Have you ever wondered? Have you ever wondered how some people you have met lit up your way for you?  They were like ships that pass in the night – lit up and showing forth light for another and then moving on. 

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn, part 3, section 4)

We, too, can be lights for each other in a generally dark world not by compelling or even suggesting to others where they should point their ships and how they should steer them. Rather, the light which we sometimes give can show up a path for others. That’s all. 

So much for the personal metaphor. What about the political and social world in which we all live?

On the eve of World War I in 1914, a British politician remarked:

The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.

A sense of gloom and foreboding hung over Europe that August even if a frenzy of patriotism and nationalism was being whipped up among the populations of Europe. Ireland was no exception, at that time, and both of the major political traditions on this island shared in this orgy of nationalism in varying ways.

Today, there is a widespread pessimism and foreboding across Europe and much of the world. Even if there can be no meaningful direct comparison between 1914 and 2017 there are, at least, some possible common trends: a type of nationalism that excludes others as much as asserting national or ethnic sovereignty, constant rivalry, distrust and provocation among the ‘super powers’ and not so super powers, uncertain economic conditions as the world enters into an entirely uncharted and unprecedented shock to the institutional arrangements for trade, investment and movements of people. When people become frightened they batten down the hatches and group together as ‘we alone’ or, worse still, ‘we above and over all others’. What is it that leads people and their elected and non-elected ‘leaders’ to behave in ways that are, ultimately, self-destructive?  Why do some people hate so much? For some reason I am greatly encouraged, inspired and struck by the lyrics of Where is the love? sung by the musicians of Black Eyed Peas [or watch and listen here]. Though long, it is worth reproducing the entire lyrics here. They contain much wisdom and insight (yes, I will get back to Matthew 5:13-16 in this blog and all of this is linked!):

What's wrong with the world, mama
People livin' like they ain't got no mamas
I think the whole world addicted to the drama
Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma
Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin'
In the USA, the big CIA
The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK
But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you're bound to get irate, yeah
Madness is what you demonstrate
And that's exactly how anger works and operates
Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love, y'all, y'all
People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach?
Or would you turn the other cheek?
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love (Love)
Where is the love (The love) [2x]
Where is the love, the love, the love
It just ain't the same, old ways have changed
New days are strange, is the world insane?
If love and peace are so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don't belong?
Nations droppin' bombs
Chemical gasses fillin' lungs of little ones
With ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young
So ask yourself is the lovin' really gone
So I could ask myself really what is goin' wrong
In this world that we livin' in people keep on givin' in
Makin' wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends
Not respectin' each other, deny thy brother
A war is goin' on but the reason's undercover
The truth is kept secret, it's swept under the rug
If you never know truth then you never know love
Where's the love, y'all, come on (I don't know)
Where's the truth, y'all, come on (I don't know)
Where's the love, y'all
People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach?
Or would you turn the other cheek?
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love (Love)
Where is the love (The love)? [6x]
Where is the love, the love, the love?
I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I'm gettin' older, y'all, people gets colder
Most of us only care about money makin'
Selfishness got us followin' the wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what they see in the cinema
Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness and equality
Instead of spreading love we're spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading us away from unity
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' under
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' down
There's no wonder why sometimes I'm feelin' under
Gotta keep my faith alive 'til love is found
Now ask yourself
Where is the love? [4x]
Father, Father, Father, help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love?
Sing with me y'all:
One world, one world (We only got)
One world, one world (That's all we got)
One world, one world
And something's wrong with it (Yeah)
Something's wrong with it (Yeah)
Something's wrong with the wo-wo-world, yeah
We only got
(One world, one world)
That's all we got
(One world, one world)

What has any of this to do with this Sunday’s short passage from the fifth chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew following on from the eight Beatitudes which opened the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ in Matthew?

In the end of our lives we can look back and say that we were helped by the light of others – or the light of God shining through others like stain glass windows. If we have been a light to others it was not because we strived or worked at it so much as we allowed the light within to shine by removing obstacles and blinkers and shutters. To be ourselves as children of light – that is the point of it all.  It is one thing to pay lip service to the Beatitudes. It Is another thing to live them wholly and faithfully.  This is a gift we can only be open to. But, a blessing is a blessing and beatitude means beatitude. Living blessedly is the way to more blessings of life, happiness and fullness. Why settle for anything less?