In this Advent reflection, I explore how Scripture frames light as the beginning of both creation and new creation. Genesis shows that physical life cannot flourish without illumination; John shows the same is true of the soul. Drawing on my work in electron microscopy—where a section must be thinned to the precise wavelength of light to reveal its hidden structure—I consider how repentance functions in much the same way. It removes what distorts, scatters, or blocks the Light of Christ.
We also look at the biblical patterns of nine stones, nine fruit, nine Beatitudes, the seven things God hates, the sevenfold Spirit in Isaiah, and the two trajectories of humanity: grasping (mammon) or receiving (manna). Advent repentance becomes the way we move from self-invention to illumination—allowing Christ, the true Light, to restore what was lost and bring the interior world into clarity.
