His light in our darkness

St Augustine tells us about how vices point us to God in today's reading from A Year with the Church Fathers.

It doesn't exactly prove the existence of God, or prove that we were originally created good, as seems perhaps the intent. You can deny the whole thing if you really want, as philosophy eventually does.

But what it DOES do is bring to mind who we really are. Or, if you prefer, who God created us to be. If we call it "who we really are" or "who we were originally", it brings up confusing questions about original sin and how it affects us.

However, when we consider the person that God created us to be, the person that He is making us into, we see our vices in stark relief. We see the things that are preventing us from being perfect. Our vices DO highlight the perfection that we are called to. When we think of how we are NOT perfect, it helps us remember the perfection to which we are striving.

As the preacher at my church said this weekend, God's light even shines in the darknesses of our lives. In fact, sometimes we see His light most effectively when we see it in the contours of the dark places in our lives. So let's welcome His light in. Let it redeem the places in our lives that we are ashamed of. The parts that need His light most of all.

Those parts of our lives remind us, as Augustine tells us, of the great good that God instills into our lives.

God, thank You for your light, which even shines into and redeems our vices.