“Your measure is not the shadows, but the fire of my love” (Inner Word).
If we do not close our eyes, we will perceive the dense shadow that hangs over the world. Indeed, there is no peace in the world, and destructive forces are spreading more and more. However, we must not be tempted to focus on the shadows, to take them as the measure of our thinking and feeling, and so to join them. This would lead to hopelessness and even despair.
Instead, our gaze must be fixed on our Heavenly Father, in whom is our true and indestructible hope. His love is stronger than all darkness. If it were not, He would not have sent His Son into the world to redeem us, to break the power of darkness and to call us home to His eternal Kingdom.
Day by day we must become aware of this incomprehensible act of God’s love and apply it to situations that seem to have no way out. Love will triumph because it is life! The shadow will not remain forever because it has no life in itself.
Love triumphed on the Cross, when our Father said His unwavering “yes” to us in the darkest hour of humanity, manifesting the fire of His love in the face of hatred and blindness. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” – cries the Son of God on the Cross (Lk 23:34), opening the way of forgiveness to all those who are ready to accept it.
These words remain until the end, piercing the darkness with their light. Those who do not close their hearts will always encounter the fire of this love and will find their home in it, even in the shadows of this world. Then the darkness loses its power and becomes a challenge for us to penetrate it with the fire of love that our Father has kindled in our hearts.