I love living in the Northeast! In particular, I love living in Pennsylvania. Believe it or not, I really do enjoy the cold, wind, and snow that winter provides, and I can’t go skiing without some snow! However, the one thing that bothers me the most about winter, as compared to the other three seasons, is that our daylight is at its shortest point in the year. When sunset is at 4:30 p.m., it drives me a little crazy as I think of those long summer days, but I’m not about to move to the equator in order to get more sunlight.

Every Advent season we find ourselves amid the darkest period of our year. We may just think that this simply occurs because Christmas is on December 25, but there’s a deeper symbolism for us during this particular point in our sun’s cycle. Although these short days are annoying for some of us, we are reminded that the light of our world, Jesus Christ, is present to us even in our darkest moments. Each week, as we light another candle on our Advent Wreath, we are reminded that our community becomes a little brighter within the darkness of our world’s sin and injustice.

This Sunday, once again, we hear about the prophetic figure of John the Baptist. Our gospel (John 1:6-8, 19-28) tells us that he “came for testimony, to testify to the light.” At baptism, we were anointed with the Sacred Chrism as “priest, prophet, and king.” As prophets, we too – like John the Baptist – are commissioned to go into the darkest parts of our world and proclaim that Christ’s light shines brightly. As witnesses of the gospel, we are called to testify that the light of hope, love, joy, and peace shines through the darkness of our lives.