But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God. – John 3:21
Have you noticed that the sun sets later each evening now? The vernal equinox—the start of spring!—is just a week away on March 20. The light will increase from now until it begins to decrease after the summer solstice on June 20. Interestingly, this is just a few days before we celebrate the Nativity of St. John the Baptist on June 24. St. John the Baptist famously said of Christ, the bridegroom: “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30).
In our Gospel reading today, St. John the Evangelist exhorts us to live in truth and come to the light. Jesus is “the Light of the world” (John 8:12). Light brings truth upon and illuminates our thoughts, behaviors, and actions. As Christians, we are called to bring everything we do to Christ, our Light. All our good works and even our sins must be presented to Christ. His light will shine upon them.
The good works we do, such as our acts of love and mercy and goodness, will shine brightly as lamps on a lampstand and so give glory to God (c.f. Matthew 5:15). The sins that we fall prey to will be made visible so God can forgive and cleanse them: “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them…but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light” (Ephesians 5:13-14).
We have nothing to fear by coming to Christ, our Light, with all that we are, good and bad alike. Our Father is kind and merciful (c.f. Psalm 103:8): He knows that we are only human and not perfect: “For he knows how we are formed, remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). We can trust in our heavenly Father to forgive us when we have sinned and be pleased with us in our good works. After all, we are His children, “children of the light” (1 Thessalonians 5:5).