Advent 3

Tuesday, First Week of Advent
29 November 2022

The infinite power of light

I thrive on literal light. Light from the sun, warm light from old lamps, and, my favorite, flickering light from candles. My mother used to light a huge white candle on Christmas Eve, and it burned brightly as we decorated our Christmas tree and feasted on a smorgasbord of pigs in blankets and other now cliché food, like baked brie. We weren’t a religious family and yet this tradition for me has always had a connection to God. A few years after my mother died and I was mad at God, my grandmother had my sister and I baptized in front of the entire congregation of St. Boniface church in Sarasota, Florida. She taught me the Lord’s Prayer and, most of all, about humanity. You could dye your hair purple (that was a big deal in the 70s) or break the rules, but she still loved you. Forgiveness was what she was made of. When I think about her, I think of God, unconditional love, and light. These past few years, things got dark during Covid. It was hard to find light during the long winter days and isolation. I connected with my yoga teacher in Long Island, and she instructed me to get a white candle and light it before I stepped on the mat and did my practice. I bought what I thought was one candle from Amazon and it was a box of 6 big candles. Someone was watching over me and had a plan. I used one for yoga, three for our dining room table, and, very recently, one for my daughter’s boyfriend’s pumpkin. Without realizing it, I have passed out light to those around me. This week I am thinking about the light that my grandmother held for me during a tough time. Even in the darkest of space, you find it as Leonard Cohen wrote, “there is a crack in everything. That is how the light gets in”. Let your advent season be filled with light and, most of all, love.
 
Leslie Moseley Rioux ’87
Director of Donor Relations