2nd Day of Simbang Gabi 2017

Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. It was said that his team had just completed the fabrication of one bulb and Edison himself gave it to a young boy, who was helping them in the lab. He told the boy to carry it upstairs for safekeeping.  Step by step the boy cautiously watched his hands not to drop the bulb. But he tripped at the top of the stairs and dropped the bulb and it shattered. The team got mad because of this. Yet, Thomas led them to make another bulb for almost 24 hours instead of blaming the boy. When they finished it, Thomas was ready to have his bulb carried up the stairs. Surprisingly, he gave it to the same boy who dropped the first one. He knew that the boy was devastated by the first incident. So he decided to give the boy back his confidence and be welcomed again by his team. This act of Thomas Edison reminds us that it is better to accidentally break a thing because at times it could be fixed or replaced than to break one’s life. He knew that a light bulb is precious but it cannot equate the preciousness of a child’s life. He enlightened his team about this. He did not want them to lose their sight of the preciousness of the child’s life because of their emotions. Truly, Thomas Edison was a light itself to his team as well as to the boy.

My dear friends in Christ, in our Gospel (John 1: 6-28), it is said that God sent John to prepare the way of the Lord. John himself is not the light. Rather, he came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, Jesus Christ. Without a light, there would be no sight while one is in the dark. It is difficult for him or her to make any move. There is therefore the need for him or her to take a light into his or her place to dispel the darkness. So John went ahead of Jesus to tell people about this role of light to sight. He preached to them that they should not stay in darkness because Jesus is there as their light. They should only prepare themselves to give Jesus a warm welcome.

This is what Simbang Gabi is all about for us Catholics; we wake up early to claim that Jesus is the light of our life. We know problems still come even if Christmas is a joyful season. We know that there are others out there who are lonely because they are sick or dying. There are still questions which remained unanswered such as why does an innocent man suffer. Instead of spending one’s time in vices, drugs, liquors, etc., it is better to pray to Jesus for enlightenment. Whenever we feel we are in a deep crisis or trouble, we approach Jesus at the altar. Instead of staying in the dark, we call on Jesus to shine upon us. Jesus knows that no thing can equate the preciousness of our life. He enlightens us about this. He does not want us to lose our sight of the preciousness of our life because of our emotional problems. We may have many friends who can give us a good advice, but it is only Jesus who can show us our way out of darkness if we let Him be the light of our life. Amen.