As a child, due to my father’s job, we lived in several cities. One of them was Torre\u00f3n, in the Mexican state of Coahuila. The city is in a desert area, and it took me a while to get used to the heat, which I felt intensely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something that happened in some nearby blocks, including ours, were blackouts. I remember them more in the summer when night had fallen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was inconvenient for several reasons. First, because we couldn’t see (hahaha), and second, because the air conditioning didn’t work. And it was extremely hot. Being outside or opening the windows was not an option, because the mosquitoes were lurking at any opportunity to make us their dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the blackouts were more or less frequent, at home we had flashlights with enough batteries, as well as candles and matches. From time to time we also had sparklers that we hadn’t used at all after the posadas. But sparklers were not my mom’s favorite indoor lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I remember most about these moments, besides the heat, was the ingenious way we spent our time waiting for the light to come back on. I don’t remember being scared. What I do remember was enjoying lighting the candle, and being mesmerized watching the flame move randomly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My mom was always nearby, watching her children. My brother liked to play with the lamp. He would put it at an angle so that it would shine light on his hands, reflecting the shadows on the wall. He would spend his time trying to make animal figures with the shadows of his hands. He would ask my dad and me if we could guess what animal the shadow represented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the seasons when the blackouts were frequent, my brother would hang a sheet, I don’t know how. He would then place the lamp behind the sheet at a distance where the light was projected over a large part of the surface of the cloth, and he would experiment even more with his hands, to form increasingly complicated figures, shadow puppets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And my brother kept asking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-What animal is it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My answers I don’t think went beyond wolf dogs or birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My brother and I entertained ourselves with the little light available. Whether it was with the candle, or with the lamp. Those lights, although they didn’t light up our entire space, were enough to show us what was around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Scripture, it says that some wise men from the East followed a star until they found the king of the Jews. There are so many stars in the sky, that I don’t know how they identified which star to follow. Tradition says that it was a very bright star, and not necessarily one star in the dark sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don’t you find it interesting that it wasn’t something that guided them during the day, which is when there is more visibility?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their guide was not the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was during the darkness, and in the midst of various lights, that the wise men had to discern which light would lead them to find the king of the Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the moments of the dark night of your soul, is it easy for you to identify your guide?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which light do you follow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can you see where it leads you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Depending on the direction you are being guided, do you need to change the light you follow? Do you need to change direction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You may not need to follow the light of the sun. God uses everything, even a light in the middle of the dark night of your soul to guide you. Sure, it would help to have a reflector with sounds and signs, but God does not always guide us like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For my brother and I, a lamp and a candle were enough in the midst of the darkness of the frequent blackouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you find yourself in dark nights in your soul, can you find the light in the darkness that God has for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The light that the Magi followed in the darkness of the night was enough. They found Jesus, Mary and Joseph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the Spirit leads you, ask Jesus the carpenter what light will lead you to his love. And perhaps, you will meet more people on the way to worship him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marisol<\/p>\n\n\n\n
P.S. We can hear about the guidance of God’s light in the readings of the solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, year\/cycle C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As a child, due to my father’s job, we lived in several cities. One of them was Torre\u00f3n, in the Mexican state of Coahuila. The city is in a desert area, and it took me a while to get used to the heat, which I felt intensely. Something that happened in some nearby blocks, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-2-2"],"yoast_head":"\n