{"id":16672,"date":"2021-11-26T11:03:23","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T16:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=16672"},"modified":"2021-11-26T11:06:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T16:06:37","slug":"your-eyes-use-em-or-lose-em","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/your-eyes-use-em-or-lose-em\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Eyes. Use ‘Em or Lose ‘Em."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I think I was 12 yrs. old when mom and dad took us on one of our rare family vacations. We went to Monmouth Cave in southern Kentucky. It is a magnificent cavern deep deep in the ground, filled with stalactites and stalagmites and beautiful crystalline gems flashing brilliant colors throughout the cathedral\u0016-like cavern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many memories I have of this trip. One which sticks out the most, and one that still speaks to me fifty years later, is the sight of a school of brown trout swimming in an underground stream that flowed through the cave. Generations of these fish had lived on the floor of this darkened cave \u0016 \u0016 \u0016 dark, as in pitch black. Over time something very strange happened; with absolutely no light penetrating the cave these fish had lost their eyes. A thin round membrane covered what would have been the eye socket. It was natures way of saying \u201cuse \u2018em or lose \u2018em\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what\u2019s this little Field and Stream article about? It\u2019s about the light . . . and the dark. They are both at work in the world. Both would like to spread themselves as far as they can. Darkness is happiest when selfishness grows, anything that leads to fear and hopelessness is its friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despair and ultimately death are its kingdom. You and I feel its pull. We\u2019re tempted to co\u0016operate with the darkness because it\u2019s easy and comfortable. We whisper things to ourselves like, \u201cWho will know?\u201d, \u201cEveryone is doing it.\u201d, \u201cOh what difference does it make?\u201d, \u201cIt feels good, what\u2019s wrong with it?\u201d \u201cGod doesn\u2019t care.\u201d And all this likes to hide behind things and in corners that are . . . dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Light on the other hand wants to have a party. It invites everyone, no skin or race excluded. It is filled with joy because it is bathed in the truth and goodness. It wants to see and be seen because what God has created is beautiful. It knows that the source of all that is . . is love. In this light we see and are seen, love and are loved. To walk in the light is why we were created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the fish for a minute. They too were created to see. But these fish had lived in darkness so long that they had lost their eyes. Darkness had blinded them permanently. Be careful. Darkness can rob our sight as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, we humans were made to see, not just with the eyes in our head but by the light of our intellect we see this world. Jesus tells us, \u201cI am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.\u201d (John 8:12<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if, like the fish, we chose to live in darkness? What if we give up on living in the light? Can we lose our ability \u201cto see?\u201d Scripture points to this possibility. \u201cAnd this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because of their deeds…..\u201d (John 3:19<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sooo? This Advent let\u2019s choose the light. Where ever we go, whatever we are doing, the choice is always there be- tween light and darkness. Let\u2019s walk in the light, drink in the light, be bathed in light, teach our children the light. This light is Jesus Christ. As always, He\u2019s appearing daily in the Eucharist and in the people who long for His Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bless you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think I was 12 yrs. old when mom and dad took us on one of our rare family vacations. We went to Monmouth Cave in southern Kentucky. It is a magnificent cavern deep deep in the ground, filled with stalactites and stalagmites and beautiful crystalline gems flashing brilliant colors throughout the cathedral\u0016-like cavern. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16672"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16676,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16672\/revisions\/16676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}