Daily Meditation for December 9, 2025

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that” (Martin Luther King, Jr.). In the northern hemisphere, December is the darkest month of the year, the time of the winter solstice. It feels, too, as if there is much that is dark about our society: many people are experiencing wars, terrorism, violence, prejudice, poverty and natural disasters. It’s a natural response to want to shrink into ourselves, avoiding the cold, dark, outside world. Yet here we are in Advent, the season when God calls to us to rejoice in the coming of joy, love and light through the incarnation of the Son. Faith asks to hold fast to the hope that darkness will not prevail, that in the light of Christ is the power to drive out the darkness and in his love the power to overcome hate.

By Karen Rose, OSB