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Sections The Daily B.R.E.A.D. Dec 13, 2009 - Sunday Meditation (We Can Only Expect the BEST from JESUS!)
Sections The Daily B.R.E.A.D. Dec 13, 2009 - Sunday Meditation (We Can Only Expect the BEST from JESUS!)
| Dec 13, 2009 - Sunday Meditation (We Can Only Expect the BEST from JESUS!) |
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| Sections - The Daily B.R.E.A.D. | |||||||
| Written by Bobot Apit | |||||||
| Friday, 11 December 2009 14:46 | |||||||
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In response to this preaching, various groups of people line up to find out what they must do to be ready. In a sense we are back to wanting to know what’s going to be expected, what will make them ready for the event. The Waited-For will have a large fan in His hand and will separate the precious grains of wheat from the expendable chaff. The grain are those who will receive life through the Messiah and in turn give that life through their deeds. The chaff will be those who will choose other ways of receiving meaning for their lives. Third Sunday in Advent Zephariah 3:14-18a Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6 Philippians 4:4-7 L uke 3:10-18 And the multitudes asked him, "What then shall we do?" (11) And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." (12) Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" (13) And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you." (14) Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages." (15) As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, (16) John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (17) His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." (18) So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people. Meditation by Larry Gillick S.J. PRE-PRAYERING A dvent is happening all around us whether it is happening inside or not. There is no need for anxiety though, because God’s Grace is the basic inside story every moment. There is a sense of joyfulness in the events of Advent, with parties, dinners, musical presentations to heighten our spirits. We hear a joyful theme in today’s Eucharistic Liturgy. We prepare for the parties, dinners, social gatherings of the season. We prepare for the liturgy in a similar spirit. We can ask the same questions of the communal gathering of the liturgy as we would ask of the parties and dinners. We would want to know who will be there, what will be served, what should we wear , and generally what is expected. We are invited to pray with these same questions. Who will be there? What will be served? Who is the inviter? What shall we wear? How shall we respond? What is expected is that we come to receive joyfully the reality of life as a total gift as is our faith in the Inviter and what the Inviter wishes to serve. Advent Hint It is helpful to our spiritual life to spend more than a glancing-moment in our reading of Christmas Cards with their notes of good wishes both printed and hand-written. It is good for our souls also to spend time with the pictures or drawings on those cards and notes. We too quickly look at the signature. Do that first, as is natural, and then again after spending time with the card. It will become a prayer and a preparation for the Advent Liturgy. REFLECTION The first two chapters which precede our First Reading today, are prophesies against the nation, the leaders and the people of Israel . Disasters will befall God’s people because of their false worship and disregard for the needs of the poor. All this sad-bad news is replaced by the glad-news we hear today. The very first verses of the Book of Zephaniah cry out that God is going to sweep away all living things from the face of the earth. The leaders, the judges, the prophets, and the priests have all defiled the nation and the city of Jerusalem . What we hear is a pledge and an announcement that this very same God of troubling vengeance has remained faithful and actually is in “her” presence. Fear and disheartening have been driven away and the victorious warrior is now singing and dancing with joy over Her return. The images in this poem are celebrational and reflective of the ritual festivals of this agricultural land. Instead of a sweeping away, there is a gathering up. Rather than banishment, there is inclusion. The people are to shout for joy that what was held against them has been removed and they are to relate gratefully with their new and loving King. It is “Rejoice Sunday” which is always the theme of the liturgical readings for this, the Third Sunday of Advent. The sense of joyful anticipation is emphasized. Jesus, as Victorious Warrior, is drawing near. The Second Reading for today echoes strongly this spirit Someone very good to us and for us is near and we will be better for that Someone’s arrival. In the Gospel, John is still in center stage predicting the imminent arrival of the Messiah. In response to this preaching, various groups of people line up to find out what they must do to be ready. In a sense we are back to wanting to know what’s going to be expected, what will make them ready for the event. The crowds, the tax collectors, the soldiers and presumably other groups of influential people, stepped up to make sure they would be wearing the proper clothes and appearing just right and ready. John tells each in turn to let go of the natural inclinations of their trade or lifestyle. Basically John is telling them to be freed from their fullness of self to receive a life that leads to the fullness of life. John the Baptist uses a familiar farm image to describe one of the missions of the One who is to come. The Waited-For will have a large fan in His hand and will separate the precious grains of wheat from the expendable chaff. The grain are those who will receive life through the Messiah and in turn give that life through their deeds. The chaff will be those who will choose other ways of receiving meaning for their lives. Luke ends this revelation with John continuing distributing “Good News”. The rejoicing is both the giving and the receiving of the News of the coming of the presence of the Good. This is a partial reason for the giving of gifts during this Advent and Christmas season. Gifts are meant to express something about the giver, the receiver and something about the relationship between both. The seven sacraments within the Catholic Church say the same kind of things as gifts of God. I would like to propose that in the spirit of Advent and Christmas we give, not presents, but sacraments. These big and little things are gestures expressive of the giver, the receiver and the relationship between both. God does this in the sending of the Good News in Christ. The things we give will have accompanying notes verbally expressing or making explicit what is being said by the gift. We are saying something about our feelings, our reverence for the receiver and something explicit about our union or love. The gift says something of the good news about our relationship and the words complete it and make it all a Christmas “Presence” and Christmas sacrament within the present we are sharing. John was preparing to present Jesus and made it explicit by his preaching. In giving and receiving Christmas sacraments we are symbolizing in our little spiritual way, exactly what God is doing every time we gather at the Eucharist and every time we live out God’s Grace. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice! The Lord is near.” Phil. 4, 4-5 Supplementary Reading The Waiting Heart Restored by Robert H. Schuller
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. – Psalm 27:14 H as your spiritual life lost its luster? Your religion lost its reality? Prayer, God, and Christ feel unreal in your life? Today if birds are winging and you do not see them, children are singing and you do not hear them, flowers are blooming and you cannot enjoy them, God is moving and you do not feel him—keep waiting, keep praying! God will not mock your waiting. He will not laugh at your praying. Nor will he be deaf to your pleading. Simply wait. Before long you will hear footsteps in the hall, your prison door will swing open, and you'll be free again! Restoration comes…with a new bloom on the rose, a sharp edge of the knife, clear trumpet tones, crocuses that bloom through snow, streams that break forth in the desert, and a moon that sails calm once again…as God returns to the waiting heart. * * * D escribe a time you felt like what I've described in today's devotional meditation. What may have been the cause of your spiritual doldrums? What brought you back to a place of spiritual vitality again? * * *
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Advent: a time of happiness and hope. What happiness is - being near Jesus: unhappiness - losing him.
The liturgy of today’s Mass repeats the words of St. Paul in which he urges the first Christians of Philippi: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice (Phil 4:4). And the Apostle goes on to give the basic reason for this profound happiness: the Lord is at hand.
This is also the joy of Advent, and that of every day: Jesus is very near us. He is nearer every day. And St. Paul gives us the key to understanding the origin of any unhappiness we may feel: it comes from our putting a distance between ourselves and God, through our sins, through tepidity.
Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you (Luke 1:28), said the Angel to Mary. It is the nearness of God which makes the Virgin rejoice. And the nearness of the Messiah will make the unborn Baptist show forth his joy in the womb of Elizabeth (Luke 2:4). And the Angel will say to the shepherds: Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to al/the people; for to youth born this day a Saviour (Luke 2:10-11). Joy is to possess Jesus; unhappiness is to lose him.
Rejoice, says St. Paul to us today. And we have good reason for doing so, and one surpassing reason, above all: The Lord is at hand. We can come close to him whenever we want to. In a few days it will be Christmas, a great feast for us Christians, but also for the whole human race, which, without knowing it, is looking for Christ. Christmas is coming, and God wants us to be joyful, like the shepherds, like the wise men, like Mary and Joseph.
We shall be full of joy if Our Lord is really present in our life, if we have not lost him, if we have not allowed our sight to be clouded by tepidity or lack of generosity. When one attempts to discover happiness along other paths which lead away from God, all one finds in fact is sorrow and misery. All those who, in one way or another, ever turned their backs on God have had the same experience: they have proved that apart from God there is no true happiness. There can be none.
With permission from Scepter UK. Short excerpt from IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD by Francis Fernandez. Available at SinagTala or Totus Bookstore 723-4326 or at www.totusbookstore.com ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
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