“Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.” Our lives and even life in general is often compared to or described as a journey, a trip, a pilgrimage, an adventure. We seem to be in a constant flow of movement, moving from one place to the next. Always in a continuous state of moving towards something so much greater than us and ever beyond our reach or, better stated, we are moving towards someone so much greater than us and ever beyond our reach. We are destined one day to arrive to our true homeland, heaven and encounter Him who came and will come again in glory to be our judge and our guide. Our journey begins anew each year coming to the realization that we are loved with a love beyond all telling but we are still in such need of a lifesaving and redeeming grace. Sin has caused so much darkness, blindness, confusion. We have lost our way and all sense of direction. We need God to come again. We need God’s light, His love, and His gift of salvation. We search for mercy. We seek forgiveness. We hope for pardon and pray for peace. We need our Savior to rescue us and to be the hope, the peace, and the joy we desire, long for, look for and need. We come to realize that without Him, we do not really know where we are going. We do not really know the way to obtain His gracious gift or the grace he so graciously offers us. We are encouraged during our pilgrim journey to be still, to be silent, to pray, to be ready for the next coming of the Lord. To wait for the Lord who will come to us once again as He promised, come one day to save us, His poor children. Until then, He asks us to walk by faith, to trust His beloved Son, Jesus who is truly the way, the truth, the life we seek and need. To wait patiently for the Lord’s next arrival and to be faithful in preparing for the journey home. Until then, Jesus continues to come gloriously as the light that shines upon us in scripture, in prayer, in person, in Eucharist. We began our adventure with joyful anticipation singing, “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” We continue our pilgrim journey coming to “behold Him, born the King of Angels” adoring Him, thanking Him for coming to us as the Light of the World, shining His glory upon us.
