[REFLECTION] Little nuggets of light

(This reflection is courtesy of Word and Life Publications, publisher of ‘Patnubay sa Misa’ at ‘Euchalette.’ Rappler is sharing this reflection as Roman Catholics commemorate Divine Mercy Sunday on April 7, the second Sunday of Easter.)

There is no denying the obvious – We live in a world filled with light of all types. We know a whole lot more than just a short generation ago.

Information is readily available anytime, anywhere. Gone are the days of voluminous encyclopedias of just 50 years ago or so. Nowadays, Mr. Google, more than SM, has got everything for us! But the other side of the picture that may not be immediately obvious is also true. The very same vast knowledge and access to information has caused the world a lot of darkness. In our times, anybody who is somebody is an object of boundless and boundary-less curiosity of the digital generation. Where you live, your expensive condo, how you got it, and who is the real owner of the unit you are living in, is fair game to digital sleuths and gossip-mongers. All it takes is a trigger and the whole country is, as digital natives put it now, “affected much.” Just ask Dominic and Bea. And go back a few months back and ask KathNiel. The four have been, and still are, fodder for the gossip mills of the “per minute” variety and so many others.
We are surrounded by so many and newfangled types of darkness. Let us name a few: The darkness of fake news, for one, and the darkness grows even bleaker and blacker once you realize that upwards of 80% of people would rather be lieve fake news and false narratives rather than good, old fashioned truth and incontrovertible facts.

False narratives have, of late, made the world a lot more darkness-filled. Call it that, or historical revisionism, woke-ism or what-have-you, they all are the same banana. In the name of self-defense, more than 39,000 innocent non-combatants have been mercilessly killed in Gaza since October 7 of 2023. Similarly, in the name of “traditional values” and a distorted rebranding of history, or in the name of “De-Nazification,” or “De-militarization,” powerful purveyors of false narratives attack civilians and civilian targets without blinking an eye, or – in plain language – without mercy.

Mercy and compassion are now easily sacrificed on the altar of re-branded “colonialism” made to appear like it is not colonialism but the establishment of a “new world order.”

The world might appear all lit up and bathed in the glow of big data and “woke-ist” grand awareness of ideologically tainted “reality,” but darkness is all over the place. The grand victim is more than just objective truth. Compassion and mercy are nothing but collateral damage to this hypocritical dedication to self-serving ideological truth.

But today, the Christian world is getting a big reminder. That truth, no matter how the world seems to ignore it, are like a shower of little nuggets of light that matters more than big data and manipulated truth. That truth revolves around a God of mercy and compassion – a God who is, who was, and always will be source and standard and measure of saving truth. Jesus Christ, the King of Divine Mercy, came and bodily showed us the breadth, height, and depth of this saving truth.

The wounds on his side, shown and offered to Thomas for him to touch, taste and see for himself were deep. But the truth behind them was even deeper. It is so deep that one remains speechless, slain by a so powerful and undeniable truth, that all Thomas – and us – could utter was and is: “My Lord and my God!” – Word and Life Publications/Rappler.com

This reflection is part of the Euchalette, which can be downloaded at the Word and Life Publications site.