Take time to read the Isaiah passage appointed for today. Now read it again more slowly as if you were the narrator, the prophet. Hear God calling you by name, knowing somewhere deep inside that "the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, has chosen you." Sit with that reality for a bit; let it soak into your very being.

The Holy One has chosen us, each and all, to be God's precious children, indwelt by and enfolded in divine Love. From the beginning, God has called us to incarnate that Love in the here and now of our existence, loving our neighbors to start with, but also loving those who are different, loving those who seem unlovable, loving even those we may consider our enemies. Christ Jesus is our exemplar, the one we are called to follow as we walk through this world. It is in and through him that we are enabled to give ourselves to others without counting the cost. In what we call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus points out that "[We] are the light of the world."(Mt.5:14) That means Christ Jesus calls us to join in his mission as "the Light of the World"(Jn.8:12) to bring light into the darkness wherever it may be, into all the dark places of loneliness and sorrow, into all the dark places of degradation and oppression, into all the dark places of bigotry and ignorance, into all the dark places of greed and injustice, into all the dark places of evil.

With the dawn of each new day, remember that you are chosen to illumine darkness with God's Love.