With today’s reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, we come to an end of our time with this particular Scripture. The fifth and final chapter of the letter continues with the theme that was introduced yesterday; namely, the second coming of Jesus.
It is in this context that St. Paul calls the Thessalonians, and us as well, “children of the light and children of the day.” In the culture of the Middle East, when one is called a “child of” a particular person or element, it is a way of characterizing that person. The evangelists who wrote the Gospels, particularly St. John in one of his important “I AM” statements, will pick up this notion from the writings of St. Paul and will have Jesus declare that not only are we to be the light of the world, Jesus is the Light of the world. To be called “children of the light and children of the day” is, therefore, a statement about how we are to live as followers of, members of, disciples of Jesus.
The lectionary further illustrates that notion by assigning Psalm 27 as the responsorial psalm for this reading. “The Lord is my Light and my Salvation.” Psalm 119 declares that the Lord is a light unto my path. So the concept of God as light is not new to the Israelites. St. Paul and the Gospel authors use this part of the Jewish faith to further reveal who Jesus is and who we are to be in Jesus.
Light provides us with balance. Our eyes are one of the three balance organs in our bodies. When we can see, we can maintain our balance. When we cannot see because of darkness, balance becomes a bit more difficult. Children of the day and children of the light depend upon Jesus to light our way and to help us keep our balance as we travel through this life on our journey to God.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator