Today we observe the growing “darkness” outside, but in just a short week, we’ll be on the other side of the darkness and we can say “light is overcoming the darkness.” Once more we will have moved through the solstice that marks the official, scientific season of winter, December 21. That date is one kind of marker, but experience tells us we’ve been bundling up for a long time and the heating bill is registering weeks of cold temperatures. Yet the commercials show young and older folks, as well as models and sports heroes and heroines, all dressed in the current outdoor winter fashions. What looks like fun and frolic on our various screens doesn’t feel that way for those of us who, day after day, face the darkness of morning alarms and winter weather traffic. Is there a way we can uncover light seemingly behind the darkness? Let’s not forget the stars and planets. For the joy of it, steal a moment in the morning to observe the lingering brightness of Venus in the South before sunrise, and in the evening, give a peek out after the sunset for the moon and Venus in the western sky. Be amazed!

By Theresa Schumacher, OSB