1 Kings 17:7-16
Psalm 4:2-5,7-8
Matthew 5:13-16
St. Ephrem was born in 306 in Nisibis. As an adult, he lived the lifestyle of a hermit. In the 350s, he fled from his native Nisibis to Edessa (Turkey) after the city was conquered by the Persians. There, he was ordained a deacon. He was a teacher who defended the faith through his biblical commentaries, poetry, and most famously his hymns.
Ephrem found the use of symbols most important and saw them in the Scriptures and in creation all around him, ‘Jesus created so many symbols that I have fallen into them as into the sea’. He has many titles: The Column of the Church, The Harp of the Holy Spirit, and is the greatest hymnographer of the Church of the East.
In our familiar Beatitudes, we see the vocation of Israel to be the light of the nations. Yet they failed to accept the Light of the world. That light has been given to us.
At the Easter Vigil, when the light from the Easter candle is passed on to every person in the church, one by one, until the whole space is illuminated, is a symbol for the Church’s mission in the world as a whole. Each one of us receives the light of Christ. We embrace that light in Christ and so we are invited to transform the world by throwing light where there is shadow and sharing the nourishment that Christ gives.
Fr Joseph Osho
