Often when we sin, especially when we sin gravely against God, we want to hide ourselves and seek out some dark place.
This type of reaction should not be surprising, as Adam and Eve had a similar response. After having eaten of the fruit of the tree, they hid themselves, as if they could hide from God's presence in the Garden of Eden.
What our reaction should be is the opposite: We should run to God, letting his light blot out our sins.
Light of the risen Christ
St. Maximus of Turin comments on this spiritual reality in a sermon featured in the Office of Readings:
Christ is risen. His rising brings life to the dead, forgiveness to sinners, and glory to the saints...The light of Christ is an endless day that knows no night...the coming of Christ’s light puts Satan’s darkness to flight, leaving no place for any shadow of sin...The celestial day is perpetually bright and shining with brilliant light; clouds can never darken its skies. In the same way, the light of Christ is eternally glowing with luminous radiance and can never be extinguished by the darkness of sin. This is why John the evangelist says: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to overpower it.
Whenever we bring our sins into the light of Christ, he washes them clean and takes them away. His light is so powerful that our sins cannot stand his presence.
This purification process may not always be easy and sometimes it can hurt, but when we are purified of our sins, we can bask in the glory of the risen Christ.
It is better to bring our sins into Christ's light than to hide ourselves in the darkness of sin. That path will only lead to further destruction and isolation from God's loving arms.
St. Maximus urges us all to join in the celebration of Christ's resurrection, not letting our sins hold us back:
Let no one, conscious of his sinfulness, withdraw from our common celebration, nor let anyone be kept away from our public prayer by the burden of his guilt. Sinner he may indeed be, but he must not despair of pardon on this day which is so highly privileged.
Let us not be afraid and go to Jesus with our sins, letting him embrace us with the warmth of his light.
