November 15

“Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

The divine life planted in us, itself so utterly alien to the world around it, is a light-source designed by God to illuminate the world’s true character. It does this by emphasizing through contrast the world’s inherent darkness. From this it is clear that to separate ourselves from the world today, and thus deprive it of its own light, is no way to glorify God. It merely thwarts his intention of serving mankind through us.

The Church, to use another metaphor, is a thorn in the side of God's adversary, a source of constant annoyance to him. We make a heap of trouble for Satan simply by being in the world. So why leave it? The Church glorifies God, not by getting out of the world but by radiating his light in it. Heaven is not the place to glorify God; it will be the place to praise him. The place to glorify him is here.