And There Was Light

Today’s first reading takes us back to the very beginning: Genesis 1:1-19, the first four days of creation. God spoke and it was so.

Such a powerful, foundational piece of scripture, and it’s stuck on a Monday reading in Ordinary Time? (Ok, it’s also read at the Easter Vigil, the most important day. But it was a surprise to see it this morning.)

The bleak, gray of February isn’t really the season one thinks of light and creation and life. And yet, it is a month of growing light. It is the halfway point between winter solace and spring equinox, roughly halfway between Christmas and Easter. Candlemas, just a few days ago, celebrates the Presentation of Jesus to the Temple, where Simeon declares him, “a light of revelation for the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32).

There is light, growing light, but it is still small and dim. We are starting to sense a coming spring, but it is not truly here yet. Looking at the beginning of Genesis in this February lens, you can feel the anticipation building. God is really going for something here, with this creation. Each day builds upon the last, more complex, more intimate. Yes, we start with light—but there is no one there to see it. They are yet to come. And there is more light coming—the sun and stars. And a brighter light still—the Light of the World.

In verse 14, God says, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and they shall serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years; and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.” God wants us to note the movement of the stars and note the change of the seasons. He wants us to observe and connect with his creation.

Amongst the weeks of drizzle and chill, the sun is slowly lingering longer, the daffodils are starting to poke up from the earth, we are seasonally tipping from death to birth and liturgically tipping from birth to death/rebirth.

Lent is a just a couple weeks away. We will enter into a spiritual “formless and desolate emptiness,” waiting for God to speak light and to resurrect creation.

February is a first light, a candle, a turning page, warm anticipation. February is a beginning, a promise of all to come.