January 23: The Lamplighter

When the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson was just a boy, he was gazing out the window one evening and saw the lamplighter lighting the street lights. The future poet is reported to have said, “Look, Nanny! That man is putting holes in the darkness.” He went on to write the poem “The Lamplighter” and, after asking God to bless the lamplighter, the poet described him as “speeding up the street and, at measured intervals, knocking another luminous hole into the dusk.”

The first gas lighting systems in Edinburgh were installed in 1819. At dusk, teams of lamplighters called “Leeries” would stream through the city. Using long poles, they’d ignite the gas in every lamp, whether on street corners, in front of businesses, or on people’s porches. They effectively turned the city from darkness to light.

Our School Mass today included a reminder for all of us to be light in the darkness. Indeed, we are to be like the lamplighters who illuminated the darkened streets of Edinburgh of the 19th century. Turning night into day, we are to put “holes in the darkness” of the world and let God’s light shine through.

We also prayed at our School Mass about how we must light the lamps of others and help to keep them lit. Ideally, as we point the way to Jesus, people should be able to trace the course of where we have been by the light we have left behind.

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“You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5, 14-16