This isn’t an exact quote because I heard it on the fly, in the van, on the radio. I do recall that it was a discussion about God’s mercy, and that the person saying the words was a priest from our diocese, Fr. Robert Laliberte, and that it seemed worthy of jotting down — as soon as I could get to a resting place.
“The sun shines down on all indiscriminately – on the good and the bad, in the country and in the city. Even when it’s cloudy, the sun is shining.”
Of course, you can easily change one letter and it still makes just as much sense:
“The Son shines down on all indiscriminately – on the good and the bad, the country and in the city. Even when it’s cloudy, the Son is shining.”
We are all the beneficiaries of both sun in the natural sense and Son in the supernatural sense, whether or not we deserve it. I remember a specific time when this became real to me in a natural sense. It was during one of my first plane rides. I was bowled over by the fact that even though it had been pouring rain on the ground, above the clouds, the sun was shining brilliantly. It had never occurred to me before then that while the earth was dark, somewhere up high, past the clouds, something else was going on; something brilliant and warm. That darkness was only shadows from the clouds interfering with the light being emanated by the sun.
And so it is with Jesus. We can always be assured that even when clouds come into our lives, the Son shines, always and forever. No shadow, no matter how dark and long, can take away the fact that the Son continues to shine.
There are obviously so many implications here, but at the very least, take this away: the next time things seem dark in your corner, consider how things are above the clouds at that same moment.
Q4U: How does the realization that the sun/Son always shines impact your outlook?
It gives me peace. I also feel a spiritual connection when I’m up in the clouds.
Mary, peace is a very good word to describe it, and I would agree wholeheartedly. And what a wonderful thing to have, peace; the kind of peace that endures even dark times.