Have you ever had the opportunity to gaze at the night sky from a place without any artificial light whatsoever? Even those of us who don't live in the city are often surrounded by the glow of buildings, street lamps, headlights, cell phone screens, and more, all of which prevent us from fully seeing the glory of the stars above. I didn't realize the effect of all of those lights until a few years ago, camping on a rural mountaintop in Luray, Virginia, when I saw the breathtaking beauty of the Milky Way Galaxy with greater clarity than ever before. Away from city lights, the stars that are always there were suddenly visible with unexpected radiance. Astronomers refer to the unwanted artificial light that surrounds us at night as "light pollution," and there's even an organization known as the International Dark-Sky Association dedicated to minimizing its effects. We often simply don't realize the great beauty that is right above us, because it's hidden by the things that we've created.

I thought of light pollution this morning as I reflected upon the beginning of Lent, the great season of self-denial in preparation for the glory of Easter. During this season, many of us give up chocolate, alcohol, social media, hobbies, online shopping, or other things that we like. The point of these practices is not self-denial for self-denial's own sake, but to focus our hearts more intentionally on God himself. Our little daily indulgences - often without us realizing it - can distract us from the Lord and from his will for our lives. Our souls are made to "seek what is above" (Colossians 3:1), but we instead often spend our time distracted by more trivial things, like what we've seen on social media or what we'd like to buy. Like light pollution, these little mental preoccupations block out our spiritual vision, preventing us from "seeing" God more clearly. Only by temporarily denying ourselves of these earthly things can we more clearly perceive the heavenly things for which our hearts were created.

Perhaps there's very little that we can do to eliminate light pollution in our cities and in our towns, in order to see the stars above. During this season of Lent, however, all of us can strive to set aside those things that obscure our vision of Jesus Christ, whom the Easter Exsultet describes as "the one Morning Star who never sets".