Thursday of the First Week of Advent
December 6, 2007
"The Lord is God, and he has given us light"
- Psalm 118:27

One of his names is The Prince of Darkness. Darkness is where he dwells and that is where he wants us to be. This Deceiver lies to us and constantly tries to convince us that darkness is light. His goal is for us to choose darkness. He has great resources and power to deceive and we must always be mindful of this. He does not want to be exposed by the light and let us see things as they truly are. He is afraid of the light and does not want to come near it. He does not want us to come near it, either. The light reveals his lies, defeat and ultimate powerlessness.

This living in darkness that the Prince of Darkness is constantly trying to lie to us about as something light and good is called sin. Sin happens when we do not choose God's will and become separated from him. When we separate ourselves from the light of the world, we choose darkness. The Deceiver, posing as light but always giving darkness, will throw some pleasure and perks in there but he will always lead us to a greater separation and darkness from God who is light.

How do you battle this battle? It is all too common to fight against darkness without verbal confession. We keep everything to ourselves, do not examine and expose things as they really are, and thus choose darkness over light. The Prince of Darkness operates by isolating and conquering us. As we are conquered, we live in the lifelessness of darkness. As the psalmist confessed in Psalm 32, "As long as I would not confess my sins my bones wasted away in me."

We are a faith of exposure- Son exposure! We want to see things as they really are. And the way things really are is Good News. Yes, sin and darkness keep seeking to infiltrate our lives but the Lord has defeated that darkness and reigns in light. As we verbally confess and live this, we move from the deception of darkness to the truth of God's light.

How do we battle to move from darkness to light, to see things as they really are? Get a good examination of conscience and convict yourself with the 10 Commandments and Scriptures and make a good confession every month. Be accountable to other believers regarding your sin and let them ask you the question, "What darkness have you chosen lately when no one else was looking?" At the end of the day, write down how you chose sin that day over the light of God's way.

We do not have to live in darkness. We do not have to be deceived, isolated and conquered.

We are infinitely blessed!

+ Fr. John