God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. The Light of God that permeates our
minds, bodies, and souls are God’s divine, uncreated energies that work in and through
us. Because of this, Christ emphasizes the theme of light. While the Lord Jesus is teaching
at the Temple in Jerusalem, He says, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall
not walk in darkness but have the light of life” (John 8:12). At the beginning of the work
of creation, God said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), as He gave a visible expression
of His nature to all creation, for “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
The Lord told us that He is the light of the world. Now, He tells us, “You are the light of
the world.”
By the power of the Holy Spirit working through us, we are the light of the world.
When we open ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit, we fulfill the whole of the Law
and the Prophets because we become channels of Christ’s truth, love, and salvation to
the world. He is the true light, and we — like a bright full moon reflecting the light of the
sun — bring this light of Christ to the world. We become like prisms that receive the light
of Christ and diffuse it into the whole of creation through acts of love, compassion, and
mercy.
The Lord says that whatever we need others to do for us, we need to be willing to
do it for them. He teaches us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind
(Matthew 22:37). This is the first and great commandment. And the second is also about
love: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). All the commandments of
God are fulfilled in these two commandments — love of God and love of others. This is
easy to understand in practical terms. When we love God, we commit our lives to Him.
In imitation of God, we love others with the love we have received from Him. When we
love our neighbors, we naturally want to do good for them and follow the Law of Moses,
which includes the Ten Commandments. Because why would we want to hurt the people
we love intentionally? Therefore, the law of love fulfills all commandments because God
is love, and He is the source of love.
Our Lord did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them. He
refers to the commandments of loving the Lord our God with all our mind, heart, and soul
and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Saint Maximus the Confessor says, “The one who
loves God cannot but love everyone as themselves.” Through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit
has been given to us, and the Spirit is the One who renews our hearts and enables us to
love. In the same way, we cannot truly love God if we do not love our neighbor. If we do
not love someone whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen?
Also, our love for our neighbor overflows as love for all of creation. Since creation belongs
to God, it is His gift to us. The best way we can receive this gift is to be good stewards of
creation and to use it in service to humankind for the glory of God.
Our neighbor is everyone the Lord presents to us. Whoever we encounter is our
neighbor, for that person is made in the image and likeness of God. Our neighbor is our
relative, friend, teacher, and even a stranger. If we abide in our Lord Jesus Christ, who
loves us and gives us the Holy Spirit, we become the light of the world just as He is the
true Light. As He illumines every person and the entire cosmos, we also participate in this
grace of illumining others. We become channels of His light through prayer and concrete
actions of love towards our neighbor.
The love of God and the love of neighbor is our calling as Christians. These two
inseparable aspects of love are the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. While telling
the story of creation and the Prophets, the Old Testament is ultimately about Jesus Christ.
Likewise, the Law points to Him and is fulfilled by the Law of Love. The love of God and
neighbor overflows to the love of all creation manifested in concrete acts of love, service,
and mercy. The light of God illumines the body, mind, and soul and enables the hands to
serve.
With the light of Christ as the source of our lives, we become light when our life is
filled with love, compassion, and grace. Let us continually join ourselves to Christ in love,
prayer, the Eucharistic life, and service to one another and all the world. The whole of the
Divine Law is fulfilled by love towards God and love towards neighbor. We become the
light of the world, for we reflect the light of His love to each other. To serve one another
is to love God, and to love God is to shine the light of His love and grace on the world
