Let your light shine!!

“Know yourselves… He who knows himself knows God… He who knows himself knows all men… He who can love himself, loves all men…” St. Antony

This is a thought that has always spoken to me: Know yourself. It’s nothing new—in fact it’s not even specifically Christian, but it’s a universal truth. Antony, however, makes this claim extend beyond the individual and extends it into the communal. He hits on three points: know self, know God, know others. This is seemingly obvious, but what is less obvious is how all these things can be connect through self-knowledge. I would think that it is simultaneously an interior and exterior knowledge. But how? And what does that mean?

It might be obvious that self-knowledge comes through an interior examination; of course we need to look within ourselves to know ourselves. It requires that we dig deep and acknowledge what we like and confront what we don’t. There’s no skating over our flaws when it comes to knowing ourselves. We love the light, but acknowledge the darkness. This is something that Antony knew well—we are made in the image and likeness of light – of God-  yet because of sin we have traces of darkness—not an opaque darkness, more of a shadow, a dimming. St. Teresa of Avila explains that our soul is an interior castle made out of the purest and finest crystal and at the center of our souls is where God dwells. From this center, from God, beams the brightest light. Yet some people live in a way that light is dimmed, the soul is covered so God’s true light cannot radiate outward from within. And you know when something in your life is amiss. You have a feeling that something is not quite right. This is when self-discovery begins—what in our lives is causing this light to be covered? Are we happy? Is it our hobbies, our actions, our relationship God (lack thereof?), our relationship with others, our relationship with ourselves? By asking these questions and taking a good look at what’s going on interiorly, we can begin to pin down why we act, outwardly, the way we do.

So knowing ourselves is both an interior and exterior reflection, but so is know God. As Teresa points out God lives within us, but I want to add that God lives outside us as well. God is present in everyone who gives him room and some let God’s light radiate from their souls more than others. This is comforting thought to me—that God is always present in people. Now a not so comforting thought—people only radiate God’s light as much as they allow, and some people have it buried so far down that we might question whether God is even present. But this makes me wonder do I allow God’s light to radiate through me or do I cover it up through my thoughts, words, and actions? Just thinking about this question takes you into yourself and you start on the path to self-knowledge. Don’t be afraid of what you might find within yourself, but allow yourself to be transformed. And remember that this knowledge of self and God is not solely intellectual, but it is relational. It is building and nurturing a better relationship between us and God and this leads to a better relationship with others.

Knowledge of self leads to knowledge of all people. How? Because when we are aware of our humanness, the humanness we share, we are connected with all people. When we realize that God is present in another—or that others have the capacity for God to be present to be present within them—we are connected with all people. There are no great divides that we cannot overcome. As human beings we have our differences in our cultures, our values, beliefs, skin color—differences both intellectually and physically—the list can go on, but what we share supersedes all of that, we share in being human. This binds us all together—we know one another not because we share the same struggles, but because we struggle.

And although we don’t deserve to call God “Abba,” we are connected to God through Jesus, who shared in our humanity and although he didn’t share in our sin, he shared in the effects of our sin. He knows brokenness. He knows suffering. But he also knows joy. He knows peace. He’s proven to be a wonderful friend for the journey who meets us where we are at, whether it be in an upper room in the washing of the feet, walking on the road to Emmaus, or being present to us in our families, friends, or in the Eucharist.

God has proven his fidelity and even though we sometimes fall short of the fidelity and adoration God deserves from us, God’s light keeps shining and when we catch a glimpse of that light we begin to throw off the layers that we might keep that light buried under that don’t allow it to shine to its full potential, the layers that keep us from shining as brightly as we can. But once we do—our knowledge grows and we can be more fully present to God, ourselves, and each other.