Sermon on the Seventh Sunday of Saint Matthew, 2026.
In The Name of The Father and Of the Son and Of The Holy Spirit, AMEN!
My Dear Family in The Lord!
There’s a story of Albert Einstein, who while he was a student, humiliated an atheist professor by using the “Evil is the absence Of God” argument on him!
One of the questions that Einstein asked was: "Professor, does darkness exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course it does."
The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."
And then the student continued with the next question!
Now, coming back to our Gospel Lesson Today, The Lord tells us: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:14-18)
We know from The Books of The New Testament that Christ Is referred so many times as being The Light Of The World! He illuminated the whole world with His Life with His Teachings, with His Personal Example and not in the last place, with His Gospel! Through His Gospel and His Messages, we learned Who Jesus Is and we started to believe in Him!
He opened our eyes, to see the light to see His Light and to fall in love with Him and with His Church! Everything that Our Lord did was to motivate us, to give us a reason and to call us to become His disciples and to follow Him!
Jesus also asked us to: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20), meaning that he commanded us, as well, His disciples and His followers to do the same, to go out and preach His Gospel and to illuminate with His Light, as many people as we can in the world!
This commandment is clear, as He speaks in this Story, that the men don’t light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand and so it gives light to all in the house, so does He wants us not to keep His Light hidden some place or to keep it for ourselves, but to share it with as many people as we can in our lifetime!
Therefore, The Lord calls us The Light of The world, “You are the light of the world!” because we are sent by Him to bring light in the life of as many people as we can, to bring His light and to illumine them with this Light, to keep The Light of The Faith always lit and to let people see this Light, enjoy it, follow Him and then as soon as they saw it, to share The Light Of Christ with others, as well!
This is pretty much our life and our mission in this world that is supposed to go on and on, all the time, over and over again!
This literally means to be:” The light of the world” to love everybody unconditionally to share our faith with others and to be selfish to keep it only for us and for our loved ones! And this commandment is not only for priests, deacons and for those who are actively working in the ministries of The Church, but for everybody! Everybody who is active in The Church and who participates actively in the Life of The Church!
May The Lord help us all to receive the illumination of our mind to carry The Light Of Christ with us all the time and to transmit it to all the generations to come and to live our life in, with and for The Lord always now and ever and unto the ages of ages, AMEN!
In Jesus Christ Our Lord, I remain, prayerfully yours,
+ Fr. Catalin