[Zechariah continued his prophecy:] "And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace."  

"I’m wide awake. Yeah, I was in the dark. I was falling hard with an open heart. How did I read the stars so wrong? And now it’s clear to me that everything you see ain’t always what it seems. I’m wide awake, yeah, I was dreaming for so long. I wish I knew then what I know now, wouldn’t dive in, wouldn’t bow down. Falling from cloud 9 crashing from the high. I’m wide awake."

Zechariah's prayer in Luke's Gospel gives us a very good image of what Jesus accomplished in what theology calls redemption: the "daybreak from on high"--Jesus--comes to "those who sit in darkness" and guides them to peace. Redemption is nothing more than making human beings more aware of what we, the human race had been doing. And once we were "more aware," we became "wide awake" to the reality that we had to change. In Luke the evangelist's words, once we were "wide awake," we left "darkness and death's shadow." Jesus gave us life and guided us to peace.

The person in Katy Perry's song finally begins to realize some things after she has gone about a life that was spent "in the dark." She had spent her "life, falling hard with an open heart." She did not understand what was happening--she read the stars so wrong. Her vision became clouded, and she began to do things that seemed to put her on "cloud 9," but were only hurting her, so that later she could only "crash."

The beginning of maturity is to finally realize what we have done, and the desire to do something about it. There are two distinct parts to such a personal redemption. First of all, we must become "wide awake." Unfortunately, many times it does not happen soon enough, and in some cases, not at all. Our world has many examples of perpetually selfish people who continue to hurt themselves and others. But once we wake up to what is happening, the second part of our redemption is to do something about where we are. We cannot just give up and say that we are too far gone, or that the road before us is too difficult. We must begin to do something. We must do what we can to take ourselves out of the darkness. The belief of the Christian remains that we must have the example and grace of Jesus to accomplish such a redemption.

In the song's excellent official video, Katy Perry acts out the words of the song. The lady in the song overcomes all adversity in order to be herself, returning to her childhood innocence, breaking down all the barriers that have blocked her.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, your Son has given us redemption, enabling us to recognize our own darkness and thus change for the better. Help us discover the courage to study ourselves and bring about a personal redemption. Be with us, we pray. 

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America