In all churches, cathedrals and convents, wherever the faithful gather for the celebration of the Easter Vigil, the holiest of all nights is inaugurated with the lighting of the Easter candle, whose light is then passed on to all those present. A tiny flame radiates into many lights and illuminates the house of God in the darkness. In this wonderful liturgical rite, which we have imitated in this vigil of prayer, the mystery of our Christian faith is revealed to us through signs more eloquent than words. Christ, who says of himself, "I am the light of the world" (Jn 8:12), makes our lives shine so that what we have just heard in the Gospel may be true: "You are the light of the world" (Mt 5:14). It is not our human efforts or the technical progress of our time that bring light into this world. Time and again, we experience that our efforts to create a better and more just world have their limits. The suffering of the innocent and, ultimately, the death of every human being constitute an impenetrable darkness that can perhaps be illuminated for a moment by new experiences, like a flash of lightning in the night. In the end, however, a distressing darkness remains.
There may be darkness and gloom around us, and yet we see a light: a small flame, tiny, that is stronger than the darkness that seems so powerful and insurmountable. Christ, who rose from the dead, shines in this world, and he does so most clearly precisely where, according to human judgement, everything seems dark and hopeless. He has conquered death – He lives – and faith in Him penetrates like a small light all that is dark and threatening. Those who believe in Jesus certainly do not always see only sunshine in life, as if they were spared suffering and difficulties, but there is always a clear light that shows them the way, the way that leads to life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). The eyes of those who believe in Christ see a light even in the darkest night and already see the dawn of a new day.
The light does not remain alone. Other lights come on all around. Under their rays, the contours of the environment take shape so that we can find our way. We do not live alone in the world. Especially in the important things in life, we need other people. Thus, in a special way, in faith we are not alone; we are links in the great chain of believers. No one comes to believe unless they are supported by the faith of others, and, on the other hand, with my faith I help to confirm others in their faith. We help each other to be examples to one another, we share with others what is ours, our thoughts, our actions, our affection. And we help each other to find our way, to find our place in society.
Dear friends, 'I am the light of the world – you are the light of the world', says the Lord. It is a mysterious and wonderful thing that Jesus says the same thing about himself and about all of us together, namely, that we are 'light'. If we believe that He is the Son of God who healed the sick and raised the dead, indeed, that He Himself rose from the tomb and truly lives, then we understand that He is the light, the source of all light in this world. We, on the other hand, experience again and again the failure of our efforts and our personal mistakes despite our good intentions. The world in which we live, despite technical progress, does not ultimately seem to be getting any better. There are still wars, terror, hunger and disease, extreme poverty and merciless oppression. And even those who throughout history have considered themselves "bearers of light", without however being enlightened by Christ, the only true light, have not created any earthly paradise, but have established dictatorships and totalitarian systems in which even the smallest spark of humanism has been suffocated.
At this point, we must not remain silent about the fact that evil exists. We see it in many places in this world, but we also see it – and this frightens us – in our own lives. Yes, in our own hearts there is a tendency towards evil, selfishness, envy and aggression. With a certain amount of self-discipline, this can perhaps be controlled to some extent. It is more difficult, however, with forms of evil that are rather hidden, which can envelop us like a vague fog, and these are laziness, slowness in wanting and doing good. Repeatedly throughout history, attentive people have pointed out that the damage to the Church does not come from its adversaries, but from lukewarm Christians. "You are the light of the world": only Christ can say "I am the light of the world". We are all light only if we are in this "you", which, starting from the Lord, becomes light again and again. And just as the Lord warns that salt can become insipid, so too in his words about light he included a gentle warning. Instead of putting the light on the lampstand, it can be covered with a bushel. Let us ask ourselves: how often do we cover God's light with our inertia, with our stubbornness, so that it cannot shine through us into the world?
Dear friends, in many of his letters, the Apostle Saint Paul is not afraid to call his contemporaries, the members of local communities, "saints". Here it becomes clear that every baptised person — even before they can do good works — is sanctified by God. In Baptism, the Lord kindles, so to speak, a light in our lives, a light that the Catechism calls sanctifying grace. Those who preserve this light, those who live in grace, are holy.
Dear friends, the image of saints has repeatedly been caricatured and presented in a distorted way, as if being a saint meant being out of touch with reality, naive and joyless. It is not uncommon to think that a saint is only someone who performs ascetic and moral actions of the highest order and who can therefore certainly be venerated, but never imitated in one's own life. How wrong and discouraging this view is! There is no saint, except the Blessed Virgin Mary, who has not also known sin and who has never fallen. Dear friends, Christ is not so much interested in how many times we stumble and fall in our lives, but in how many times we get up again with his help. He does not demand extraordinary actions, but wants his light to shine in you. He does not call you because you are good and perfect, but because He is good and wants to make you His friends. Yes, you are the light of the world, because Jesus is your light. You are Christians – not because you do special and extraordinary things – but because He, Christ, is your life, our life. You are saints, we are saints, if we allow His grace to work in us.
Dear friends, this evening, as we gather in prayer around the one Lord, we sense the truth of Christ's words that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. This assembly shines in the various meanings of the word – in the light of countless lamps, in the splendour of so many young people who believe in Christ. A candle can only give light if it allows itself to be consumed by the flame. It would remain useless if its wax did not feed the fire. Allow Christ to burn in you, even if this sometimes means sacrifice and renunciation. Do not be afraid that you might lose something and end up, so to speak, empty-handed. Have the courage to commit your talents and gifts to the Kingdom of God and to give yourselves – like the wax of the candle – so that through you the Lord may illuminate the darkness. Dare to be ardent saints, in whose eyes and hearts the love of Christ shines forth and who thus bring light to the world. I trust that you and many other young people here in Germany will be torches of hope that do not remain hidden. 'You are the light of the world'. 'Where there is God, there is a future!' Amen.
[Pope Benedict, vigil in Freiburg, 24 September 2011]