Today’s find: By dawn’s early light

Almost a full week before our clocks “sprung forward,” it was still pretty dark at quarter-past-six in the AYEM…

…dark enough that I had trouble comprehending what my eyes were perceiving in Monday morning’s first light: the parking lot at church had begun to fill up. Not “packed-to-overflowing” by any stretch…but many more cars than we “daily Mass regulars” would expect to be there at that early hour.

Eventually, it dawned on my sleep-fogged brain what was unfolding before my very eyes: The upshot of an invitation that had been extended a couple of weeks earlier – for certain men of our parish to mark the 20^th anniversary of the ACTS retreat they’d attended in March 2004.  

By the time 6:30 Mass began, there were close to two dozen of us in the pews – team members and retreatants who’d been deeply moved by the experience of that long-ago ACTS weekend.

None of us is named Nicodemus. But I couldn’t help think this week how much we each have in common with the Pharisee whom Jesus encounters in the gospel passage for Laetare Sunday. Like Nicodemus, we all tended to approach the Lord rather tentatively way-back-when. We came at night, under cover of darkness, just to see whether he might have something of value to offer us. And I think it’s accurate to say we returned 20 years later…with hearts full of gratitude for what we had in fact seen, what we’d each been given, on that retreat weekend.

Not that we’re anything special. Indeed, as Jesus assures Nicodemus, the gift is pretty much universal:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

What you learn in 20 years’ time of course is that there’s an interplay between light and darkness in almost everyone’s life. The light is surely strong and welcome. But we have to remember to keep moving towards it. As Jesus teaches Nicodemus:

… the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.

What a blessing it is then to receive an invitation from time to time, a call to return to the light. The animator of our impromptu ACTS reunion put it this way in his letter to us: “The fulfillment of this journey is the Eucharist, and 20 years later I’d be honored to share the Eucharist with you again.” And so on Monday morning, we each saw for ourselves how true it is what Jesus said to Nicodemus:

…whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Seeking…and still finding…something of value, 20 years after our ACTS retreat.

PS: Even today, our parish continues to offer the blessing of an ACTS Weekend to any who are interested. The next Men’s retreat is just about a month away. Click here for more information about attending.

Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.

IHS