Love is the Essence of God; Light is the Perfection of the Essence!

Love is the Essence of God; Light is the Perfection of this Essence!

A homily for funerals in a Church or chapel.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.  What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  (Jn 1: 1 - 5).

“I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.  The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.”  (Rv 21: 22 - 23). 

From a book titled, “Death The Final Surrender” by Fr. Cedric Pisegna, CP.  The author speaks of two incidents encountering God.  He describes them here;  “After the tunnel I was encountering my true self as I was bathed in light.  What I encountered when I stood before God was glorious and eclectic.  I wasn’t allowed to see a form, but what I did see was light.  (I literally saw the light!).  It was as if I were looking at the sun with my eyes closed, yet even more brilliant.  God is a pure, living luminescent light.  1 John 1: 5 states clearly: God is light and in God there is no darkness.  I didn’t just see the light ; the brightness bathed and embraced me.  I knew the light was alive.”  (from chapter 5 of this book).

This accounting of Fr. Cedrick didn’t recreate the theme of John and Revelation, but it certainly enforces the truth regarding these scriptural verses.  We could use the theory of Black Holes somewhere in the universe that once anything gets too close whole systems of planets are swallowed.  This theme of God as light also indicates his being will envelop all that gets within his glory will also become as he is.  His goodness is the purity of the absence of sin which cannot even find its way to the light which is God himself.  

There are factions that teach that God, whom we cannot see, is always waiting for the sinner to go too far and he will strike him with untold problems that will plunge him into hell.  Not true!  God is so pure that sin is not part of the make-up to his Omnipotence.  His holiness is so perfect that only goodness passes before him. 

Light is always used to describe an entity of some type, sports events, shadows of important events, and the applause of a theatrical show for audience approval.  Rarely do we place the same outcome to God whenever he adorns our success of spiritual accomplishments.  But, that is when we should seek the light that is God when we are closer to his grace.  The light Fr. Cedrick encountered is something we won't see now, but expect to become part of it when death approaches and we are called into that same light.  Only then will we know what it means to be bathed in the Light of God.

Ralph B. Hathaway