This Little Light of Mine

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, x3

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

I am sure this is a familiar song to all of you. For me, I got to know about this song as a child. This was one of the songs that we always sung at campfires and at ceremonies when we welcomed new members to our scouting troop.

In the welcome ceremony in our scouting troop, the song would begin with the most senior member of our group holding the only lighted candle. Then, as we sang, he would light the candles of the new members and the new members would in turn light the candles of the other members of the group. This is the memory that I have, whenever I sing this song – that I came to know this lovely song even before I became a Catholic, Even before I knew this was a church hymn!

Yet the symbolism attached to this song was clear to me in those days – that only by each one of us sharing our light, can everyone become a light for another; only by sharing our light with others, can we overcome the darkness that surrounds us.

Today the Church calls on us to be light of the world, and it sounds like an easy task. Jesus says, “your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."

Just do good deeds? Is it that simple?

Well, my friends, the answer is really both yes and no. Yes, Jesus IS asking us to do good for others. HE IS asking us to go out and help others. In the reading from Isaiah, the LORD reminds us to share our bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when we see them… and maybe that is all. If we do all these, according to the Prophet Isaiah, then our light shall break forth like the dawn, our wounds shall quickly be healed and then light shall rise for us in the darkness!

My dear brothers and sisters, the world will certainly be a better places if everyone of us do good and kind things for each other. And frankly, no one needs to be Christian or Catholic if Jesus is just asking us to do good for others. Because there are aleady many religions that calls on their followers to do good. In fact, there are kind people who do not follow any religious teaching that offer to do a lot of generous and caring things for others. There are many billionaires who donate money to help the poor just for tax relief and making themselves and their company look good… The point I am making here is that doing good is not enough. There is a certain flavor to the goodness that Jesus is asking us to share with the world. Catholic charity, as the church teaches in her social justice doctrines, is different from that of the world. And therefore, the charitable works the Church is called to offer to the world, is always different from those of any non-profit organizations.

So, many of you might be thinking now, what is this Catholic flavor of doing things that Jesus is asking us to follow?

The answer lies in the core of our faith – our relationship with God. Remember the Gospel Acclamation? We sand, “I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.” Hence, the key to having the Catholic flavor in our good works, is to follow Jesus’ example closely. And to do this, we need to be first, familiar with the Scriptures.

Often, we hear people asking WWJD when they are not sure how to approach a particular situation. Does any of you know what WWJD mean? [Pause] Yes, it means, “What would Jesus do?”. However, in order for us to know what Jesus would do, we must be familiar with the Scriptures. If not, we would just be flipping tables when we are upset with others, like Jesus flipped the tables of those making his Father’s house of prayer a marketplace. But on a serious note, yes, spending time to understand the scripture is an important becoming capable of doing good the Catholic way.

The next step is to pray. When we read the scriptures, we find that prayers is a very central part of Jesus’ life. Before he did something, after he did something, and even when he was doing something for the people he wants to teach or help, he always prays. How often have we offered some money to those living on the streets and then walked away and never thought about them again. How often have we started an event and forgot to pray for God’s help or give thanks to God when the event ended successfully? Most importantly how often do we pray for God’s guidance to understand better what God is calling us to do, rather than just going to work, coming to church and listen to others telling us what to do?

This is when Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians comes in to help us. All of us know that even before coming to know Jesus and deciding to follow in Jesus’ way, St Paul was a very intelligent pharisee. He probably was very well-to-do, had high quality education both religious and secular knowledge. Before he knew Jesus, he was already a preacher. But in his letter to the Corinthians, he says that he did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom, that his message and proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom… this means that he is no longer trying to preach just using the skills and knowledge that he acquired in his earlier training as a pharisee, he was not just doing good according to the wisdom and traditions of the pharisees before him…

BUT instead, what he now claims to do is done with a demonstration of Spirit and power, and it is not a faith that rests on human wisdom, but on the power of God. My friends, that is the Catholic flavor of doing good deeds – that we do them through the grace of God, and for the glory of our Father.

Let me share one more story with you that serves as a reminder and inspiration to me. Yesterday, I went to a Mass to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of two sisters from the congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Bishop Martin shared in his homily as a reminder to all of us this:

“Do not count the number of works you have accomplished but spend time to notice and give thanks to the person you have become.”

That was a powerful message for me and I think it is very suitable for what we are reflecting upon based on the scriptures for today.

I think our Bishop is reminding us that we are more than what we do.

that even if we do a lot of good for the people, but that we do it blindly, it is not good enough.

By paying attention to who we have become, I think our Bishop is reminding us that the most important aspect of doing good, or doing our Lord’s work, is that it must come from a changed heart. That our works must be inspired through our relationship with God, a deep desire to be Christ-like for the world.

AND when we love as Christ loves, then we have accomplished the real good deeds that Jesus is calling on us to do, to be the light of and for the world.

To do good like Jesus, is to be present to the people we help. We don’t drop a donation and leave, we don’t do a fundraiser and use the making to buy the things we need or build a bigger church that we don’t really need. Becoming the light for the world and salt of the earth, is to understand the challenges of other people and trying to solve the root cause of the problem instead of giving them a temporary painkiller.

To do good with the Catholic flavor, we do what God calls us to do, with and in prayers. To let God inspire us when we pray, so that what we do comes from God, what we do, is grounded in the power and grace God, and what we do is filled with trust and thanksgiving to God.

And that is why we are gathered together today for the Eucharist – to give thanks to our God for all the grace we have experienced this week. And we are gathered here to also asked to be nourished and strengthened for the week to come through the Eucharist.

Yes, we have come together to approach the altar, so that we can ask that Jesus be our light, and Jesus share with us His light so that we can sing:

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, x3

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!