If you are a regular listener of The Wampa’s Lair, you know that I often like to attach my love of Star Wars with my own understanding of spirituality and my own faith life. The Force Awakens is full of amazing new themes, scenes, and images which can speak directly to someone’s spiritual journey.
For Christians, today is known as the Epiphany which recounts when the Magi from the east followed a star to find the Christ child in Bethlehem. They are guided by the light of a star to find the True Light which enlightens the whole world. The Christmas season comes to a close with the celebration of this feast, a season which is full of images of light.
In our spiritual journeys, we often encounter “stars” or rays of light which help lead us more to the fullness of what we seek. For the Magi of old, it was a star that led them to the God-made-human in the town of Bethlehem. Today, we might find stars in those we meet, or in works of art, anything that leads us closer to what we seek in life.
In The Force Awakens, we meet the sage-like character, Maz Kanata. While Maz admits she is not a Jedi, she clearly has a relationship with the Force in some capacity. She recognizes the light which resides in Rey and invites that light to guide her. As Maz so beautifully puts it to Rey, “Close your eyes, feel it. The Light; it’s always been there. It will guide you.”
Rey is clearly our new hero who is embarking on a hero’s journey. She has the Light within her, she always has, but it took a “star” like Maz to recognize that light and invite it to shine. Maz knows that the light in Rey is something to be trusted, to be fostered, to be drawn out.
We all contain a ray of Light within each of us, just as Rey does. Who is the Maz Kanata of your life? Who is someone that recognizes that Light and invites it out?
Like Rey, we have a choice of whether or not we wish to allow that Light to guide us. But it is always there, a soft whisper in the core of our being that tries to guide us towards that which we truly are called to be.
When Rey finally chooses to let the Light guide her, it leads her to the one who can ultimately shape that inherent Light within her into what we can expect to be a light that will shine in a galaxy that has become so dark again. Rey follows the Light and it brings her to Luke Skywalker, who’s own Light has been dormant for so long. But with Rey entering the picture now, their Light can shine. The Force knows what it’s doing by calling Rey to seek out Luke. It will change her journey from a nobody, scavenger into a potential Jedi. And it will change Luke from an exiled Jedi Master to a Light to shine in the darkness of what he has left behind.
Like Rey, we all have the ability to feel and know the Light which resides in each of us. As this Christmas season full of light comes to a close, find a way to tap into that Light within yourself. It’s the start of a new year, where is the Light guiding you?
-Karl
Email: WampasLairPodcast@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/WampasLairPodcast
Twitter: twitter.com/WampasLair
iTunes: WampasLairPodcast/itunes
RSS FEED: feeds.feedburner.com/wampaslair
