Darkness & Light—Day & Night

I consider this post to be a follow-up to yesterday’s post, especially the prayer, May the Light of God shine upon ________for the greatest possible good. But before I get to that I want to share what happened a few minutes ago.

Since my guests and their two kittens lived in my house, Alex, the cat who owns me, has been spending more and more time out-of-doors. That is where he is at the moment and I rather envy him because the sun is shining and my computer link to the weather bureau tells me the present temperature in 54 F.

A few minutes after Alex got my attention by taking a swing at my groin with his clawed paw and demanded I open the door and let him go outside, I heard a lot of cat chatter. So I investigated and found Alex having a rather heated conversation with another cat. Since I neither understood what the two cats were talking about nor desired to intervene, I preformed a retrograde operation—the army’s euphemism for “moving backward” (retreat)—obtained my camera, and snapped this picture:

When I later looked at the picture, I realized that it could be used to exemplify this blog post that was already forming in my mind. I am speaking of “light” and “darkness”—or, more to the point, “day” and “night.” On one level, Alex—who is mostly white—represents light while his “friend” represents darkness. Alex, for the most part, reflects the light; his friend absorbs the light. I do not want to carry the analogy any further than that nor do I want to delve into its theological milieu. Rather, I want to tell a story.

I am sure that I read this in one of the several books I own that were written by Anthony de Mello. I met de Mello, an Indian (from India) Jesuit Priest, when he visited St. Louis while I was in seminary. I could probably write a book on de Mello and how his use of stories has affected me spiritually. Perhaps I shall do that someday. Now I will simply share one of the stories Father de Mello told:

Once upon a time a holy man asked his followers how they could tell when the night had ended and the day had begun.

One replied, “When you can see an animal at a distance and can distinguish it as a cat or a dog.”

“No,” the holy man said.

Another follower suggested, “When you look at a tree in the distance and can tell if it is an oak or a maple.”

Again the holy man said, “No.”

“Well, then, how does one tell when the night had ended and the day had begun?” asked the guru’s disciples.

And the holy man replied, “When you look into the face of any man and recognize your brother in him; when you look into the face of any woman and recognize in her your sister. If you cannot do this, no matter what time it is by the sun, it is still night within you.”

Yesterday I posted a short prayer that I have learned to pray when I am in conflict with another. The prayer asks that light shine upon that person “for the greatest possible good.” Today Thomas, Your Ever Well-Wisher, posted about “five ways of removing annoyance”—another person. Both are ways of dealing with people who irritate or even abuse us. I recommend that you take a look at Thomas’ post. Both speak in their singular way of bringing light into the night of antagonism and wrath.

Father de Mello’s story illustrates how the darkness of night within us can only end when we see that irritating other person as a sister or brother. May those who have ears to hear and eyes to see listen and understand.