As a journeyman photographer, I am compelled by how varying light shows so differently the same object, how differing light creates completely different experiences of the same landscape.  It is also true that darkness reveals objects in ways light never can.

Several years ago while staying at Lake Logan, I found myself in utter darkness, a remote cabin on a moonless cloudy night with no outside lights present.  As I got up in the middle of the night, not wanting to wake my roommate, I supposed my eyes would eventually adjust to the blackness.  They did not.  I literally could not see my hands in front of me.  Finding my way through the room required a different focus, a totally different manner of walking, of seeing than I was accustomed.  Even a short walk required new learning for navigation.

When our lives become dark, we learn to see differently.  We find truths about ourselves and all about us that light can not reveal.  We see things in us and our world that can not be seen in the light.

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells those around him to walk in the light while they can for the light is only with them for a little while longer.  It states, "After he had said this, he departed and hid from them."  Hid from them?

For the Evangelist, it is a moment of decision.  The light is waning.  The light will disappear.  People will have to learn to see and walk in the darkness.  The ways they walk in the light will prepare them for walking in the darkness and it will be completely different.  Again, juxtaposition of light and dark in this week, and no apology from the Evangelist for this juxtaposition, this seeming paradox.

As the light of this week dims and ultimately disappears, may we not flee the dark. May we stay with it.  May we walk in it.  May we seek its clarity.

Blessed Wednesday of Holy Week,

Todd Donatelli