"Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and make bright the darkness…."

– prayer for Gaudete Sunday

Because isn't this what we really need?  Like everyone else I have been deeply saddened by the innocents lost last week, as well as by the darkness which envelopes a heart and allows such a thing to come to pass. But in the end, great positive change doesn't come through policies, but through people.  It does not come in big sweeping blasts of condemnation and commotion, but in tiny lights which come together to illuminate a dark world. 

Some things will never be heard through bull horns.  Messages of love and peace, like prayers, can only be heard through whispers.  They are spread through clasped hands and never raised fists or pointed fingers. They spill forth, a heart overflow.  Gentleness and awe cannot be coerced, but are often inspired.

So this is what we do.  We slow down.  We whisper joy.  We share beauty. We find peace and take great care in a restless and reckless time.  We try to forgive immense pains, extend grace, and to step back from heated arguments.  Instead of shouting into the darkness, or fixing our gaze there, we stop and make light, right where we are. 

And yes, there are those who are waiting, ready to extinguish our fragile flames.

Indeed they are there.  

We must be as unceasing as they, quietly lighting vigil candles of charity in every corner of the world we find ourselves.  There is no other way.

Be a light in your corner of the world today – a light-seeker, a light-bearer.  Make a heart bright.