The mystery of divine illumination and human fragility
"For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of [Jesus] Christ. But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us." (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) In these verses, Saint Paul reflects on the mystery of divine illumination and human fragility. The God who, in the beginning, commanded light to shine in the void (cf. Genesis 1:3), now causes a new and greater light to radiate, not upon the cosmos but within the human heart. The apostle draws a profound parallel between the act of creation and the work of redemption: both begin with a divine utterance, both bring order out of chaos, and both disclose the glory of God. But whereas the first creation revealed divine majesty in the material universe, the new creation reveals it in the radiant countenance of the risen Christ. This knowledge is not merely intellectual but relational and transform...