The little candle doesn't choose the corner where we place it. The little candle doesn't choose which shadows to erase. Instead its glow penetrates the dark around it evenly, with cheerful warmth, until at last it burns out.
Jesus, the Light of the World, ignites all of us as His little candles so the Light of our Faith and Love can shine in a specific corner of His Kingdom, wherever He chooses to place us. And He places us in the corner where He knows we can do the most good. He asks us to burn brightly among these particular people who walk in darkness, and to attract them to the Light of God and Goodness - by giving them the unconditional Love which is the Message of the Gospel.
How often we forget that Jesus asks us to shine in the midst of darkness. It's so much easier to be one candle among many in a lit room, to walk with and associate with those who have faith like ours. We feel so warm and safe with our Church community or our friends. We have the same values. Often we say the same prayers, sing the same hymns. We encourage each other, comfort each other, strengthen each other, pray for each other. And we need this holy community of our friends. Some of the time.
Because Jesus deliberately commissions us and sends us out to shine into the darkness. Out where people have no or little faith. Out where people are searching and sometimes misunderstand us or insult us. Out where people's lives are messy. Out where we can sometimes feel used and abused because people who are drowning in darkness sometimes cling to us with all their might, when it's convenient and when it's inconvenient. Or they only call us when they need us, when the dark becomes too overwhelming to bear.
Sometimes the people who live in the dark corner where Jesus has placed us are our family members. Or people we work with. Or strangers we meet and talk with in passing, or people we meet in our various ministries. The one who walks in darkness can even be our spouse or our child.
People in darkness aren't always really looking at our faces or hearing our problems or even thinking about who we are or how we hurt. They are attracted to the light in our faces and in our lives. The Light in us is Christ. It is Christ Who they come for, Who they yearn for, whether they understand this or not. Sometimes we can feel hurt, not valued for ourselves. But, what are we looking for - constant affirmation? What and who do we think Jesus has called us to be? Successful or admired? No. Jesus didn't call us to necessarily be successful or affirmed. He called us to be faithful servants.
If we are to truly follow Jesus and shine His Light into the world, we have to remember what He said about Himself: "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I do not call the righteous but sinners."
When we are a little candle shining in the darkness, the people who come to us bear different kinds of darkness, different types of soul-sickness or psychic wounds that crave the light to get well. Sometimes all they need from us is someone to hold them when they cry, someone to listen to their tragic life story without judgment or condemnation, someone who is simply kind, loving. Sometimes they need more than we can give and we are wise if we know others we can refer them to. But - we are the first little candle who starts them on their way, who shows them there is a path out of the dark pit.
Someday, the One Who lit us will see our light is growing smaller, dimmer. He will gently blow the breath of His Spirit that gave us life, but this breath extinguishes our light, for the wax has burned down past further use. Then He will lift us into His gentle Hands and take us to a home filled with constant, jubilant Light, and re-light us to shine for eternity, shine and dance as brightly and joyfully as the stars of the sky. And He will smile and say to us "Well done good and faithful servant."