The Light and the Darkness

In today’s Mass readings we find this fascinating passage from Isaiah:

I am the LORD, there is no other;
I form the light, and create the darkness,
I make well-being and create woe;
I, the LORD, do all these things. (Isaiah 45:6-7)

Advent is a time when we descend into darkness (at least in the northern hemisphere). The days get shorter and shorter until we reach the Winter Solstice with the longest night of the year. This is a time when we are reminded that both the light and the darkness are held in the hands of God.

Sometimes — even in sacred scripture — “light” and “dark” seem like adversaries. Consider this verse from the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John:

…the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)

John uses light and dark as metaphors for good and evil. It’s a powerful metaphor, and one that even someone without any grounding in religious imagery would understand.

But Isaiah reminds us that there is more to darkness than merely a metaphor for evil. When we use darkness to symbolize evil, we are not being fair to the dark! Because in itself, darkness is not evil: like the light, it is a creation of God, as Isaiah reminds us. And God is not in the business of creating evil, so there must be an essential goodness to darkness.

That’s easy to see, even in a mundane way: darkness provides us with a time for sleep, for rest and rejuvenation; in other words, it’s a time when we prepare for the light of a new day. This has a spiritual dimension as well: darkness reminds us that God is a hidden God (Isaiah 45:15), that there is an essential mystery to God, if for no other reason than human reason is incapable of comprehending the vast splendor of God.

Advent invites us to enter this darkest time of the year, with trust and faith. God is a God of darkness as well as of light. In silence, in trust, and in unknowing, we are invited to wait for the One who comes. When we encounter the “darkness” of God’s mystery, we are called to remain humble and faithful. For God never leaves us in the dark forever: we are always being ushered to a new sunrise — in God’s time, not ours. But as we wait for that new dawn, the waiting itself is a blessing.