The end of the night

In July we saw relaxing of coronavirus restrictions, included those imposed on churches. Was it the light at the end of the tunnel?

With hindsight, no, but I’m anticipating an end to the pandemic – coming out of the gloom. There have been many episodes in life when I’ve lived in the hope of emerging through the other side of the dark night. I thank God for the hope he gives me. But how do we know when the darkness of night has ended?

In a rabbinical school, a very old rabbi posed a clever question to his young students: ‘When can it be said that night truly ends and the day begins? When is that moment when from darkness there comes light, when it can really be said the gloom has passed and brightness is here?’

The first student, still a bit immature, replied: ‘Well, it’s when it says so on the internet.’ The rabbi smiled and told him: ‘That’s not what I mean.’

The next student said: ‘It’s when you can distinguish sheep from goats, because in the dark they look very similar, but when light appears they can be told apart.’

The rabbi told him it was a wiser answer, but not the one.

The third student said: ‘When you can tell the fig tree and palm tree apart.’

This interested the rabbi but, no, this wasn’t it. The rabbi asked if there were any other ideas, but there weren’t. So he told them the answer: ‘It is when you look at another person and do not see a stranger but a brother or sister; this is when know the night has ended and the day begins.’ Father Tony Wood, Saint Kieran’s Catholic Church, Campbeltown.