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The title of today’s presentation, Lux Aeterna, is a Latin phrase from the Catholic liturgy which means Eternal Light. This morning I’ll talk about different kinds of light - literal and symbolic, the light of the divine, the light of artistic expression, the light we bring to each other.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, one of the two times in the year when day and night are equal. It always seems oddly poetic to me that the day after the solstice, in the midst of winter, the days are already lengthening imperceptibly in their progress toward this time. And of course at the opposite side of the year, in the height of summer, we’re drawing closer to the heady richness and poignancy of fall. Each of these times has its own quality of light, each equally beautiful and unique.

Last January, when I began thinking about this topic, I was getting up early, which is rare for me since I’m naturally a nocturnal creature. The sky in the mornings was stunning, so blue that I felt I could disappear into it. The air was crisp, and while the warmth of the sun seemed like a distant memory, the radiance of the early morning felt like a blessing. When I returned home in the evenings the sun’s light was already fading, setting the sky ablaze with crimson, and turning the clouds to silver. At home, I watched as over the course of a few weeks the bulb in a pot on our windowsill, which our friends T and David had given to us for Christmas, responded to the light with a graceful shoot that looked like a dancer reaching her arms up to heaven. As the weeks went by, the plant produced an incredible red flower that made me think about how light and color are related. Light appears to us as a spectrum of color, the rainbow of hues that we see all around us. Sunlight is obviously an essential life force, making the plants grow, bringing us heat and energy. But color is also essential in an aesthetic sense. Think of how different our world would be if there were only black, grey and white, or if even one of the colors we see, say blue, were not visible to us. We know that the colors we can see are limited by our human perception, part of a continuum of energy that extends beyond the visible spectrum. Imagine for a moment what colors might exist in the universe that we can’t see! Light and color are vital, not only to sustain our bodies but also to nourish our spirits.

Many cathedrals and chapels are graced with beautiful stained glass windows that seem to me to celebrate the beauty and richness of pure, intense color. I haven’t yet visited the famous cathedral at Chartres, but I have been to Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and to the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. My favorite windows at the National Cathedral are abstract mosaics of reds, greens and blues. Instead of portraying a specific event they speak of a universal and eternal light, the joy of life and the wonder of the infinite. One represents a flame, the fire of the life force. Another shows stars and sky, and was created as a tribute to the human spirit of exploration. The light pouring through these windows during the day literally illuminates the images and presents the array of colors in their full brilliance.

Variations in light are specific not only to time, but also to place. Artists have often spoken of, and tried to capture, the quality of light in particular places. For instance, Georgia O’Keefe spent many years of her life in New Mexico, where she was drawn to the vast open spaces and stark southwestern vistas. Her biographer, Laurie Lisle, writes:

The New Mexico sunlight, far more radiant than the light at sea level, often made newcomers feel that their eyes were open wide for the first time. The experience, to some, came as a startling revelation or even a spiritual awakening ... Visual artists such as Georgia were particularly susceptible. In the searing brightness, the desert, sagebrush, flowers, and mountains shimmered in new hues before her eyes.

The Impressionist school of painting which evolved in France during the late nineteenth century, was concerned with capturing the subtleties of light at different times of the day or season. Here are some of the artists’ observations about light and color.

Drawing and colour are not separate, everything in nature being coloured. The more the colour harmonizes, the more the drawing becomes precise. There must not be a single link too loose, not a crevice though which may escape the emotion, the light, the truth. - Paul Cezanne

It was as if the light would be immobilized forever. It is as if life were frozen in a magnificent stance... pure light, pure air, pure color: diamond, sapphire, emerald, turquoise.

A landscape hardly exists at all as a landscape, because its appearance is constantly changing; it lives by virtue of its surroundings - the air and light - which vary continually. The effect varies constantly, not only from one season to the next but from one minute to the next.

But what does the idea of "eternal light" mean? In the Christian tradition, the Genesis story begins with the creation of light:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.

Eternal light, I believe, refers to the metaphorical light of faith, the light of the spirit that does not die. This divine spark can sustain us through times of emotional trauma, sorrowful events in our lives, and other "dark nights of the soul." It can be frightening, or humbling, to think beyond the reach of our own lives. But it may also be comforting to find a connection to something everlasting, however we might conceive of it. The science of our time tells us that matter and energy are ultimately the same, and cannot be created or destroyed. World without end: darkness and light in perpetual balance.

The image of eternal light is compelling in its depth and strength. The life force itself, the power of the sun and the stars that men have revered for ages, is incredibly potent. In elemental mythology, there are three realms - those of earth, air and water. The fourth element is fire, belonging to the earth but not of it, nurtured by air, balanced by water. It’s the element of change, transforming one type of matter into another. It’s the alchemical force of purification, refining base metals into pure ones and melting away all that is not essential. Fire is the bringer of light, the life spark, the most primal of all the elements. It’s essential to life, but also destructive, deceptive, and unpredictable. It is both eternal and always shifting.

Tomorrow, spring returns as it always does, ever the same and also unique to this day and this place, connecting us to the ongoing cycle of life. We can think of the light of spring as an embodiment of renewal, shining on familiar things and making them surprising and fresh again. The concept of "seeing things in a new light" tells us that sometimes all we need to begin to solve a problem or to escape feelings of isolation, grief or despair, is a change in perspective. Sometimes this gift can be given to us by our friends, our family, or our community. We can find enlightenment in books, songs, or works of art. And sometimes the light can be a literal one, the soft beam of sunlight through the branches of a tree that makes our hearts rejoice in its pure beauty.

Emily Dickinson’s poem entitled "A Light Exists in Spring" is her celebration of the season, a bittersweet reflection on the passage of time and a fleeting glimpse of something sacred.

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.

It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.

The text translates as:

Eternal light shine upon them O Lord with thy saints forever.
Lord who art merciful,
Grant them eternal rest and let perpetual light shine upon them.