Thursday, December 7, 2017

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 10, 2017: Conduct yourselves in holiness and devotion...

How do we prepare when we expect the extraordinary?

   In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, God tells the people in exile to prepare for their release:  proclaim to her that her service is at an end.  How are they to prepare?  By clearing all the obstacles they have erected between themselves and God, every metaphorical mountain and hill; all that is rugged and rough.  They are to look forward to, and proclaim, the kingdom they have only hoped for, crying out at the top of their voices, Here is your God!, though they have not seen the fullness of what is being announced to them.  But if they follow the dictates of Psalm 85, they will hear what God proclaims, and trust, trust that God will bring the salvation they need.  They are now in a position to expect the extraordinary.

   When the people of the whole Judean countryside gather to be baptized by John the Baptist in Mark's Gospel, they too are clearing the way, eliminating any obstacles between themselves and God, shedding that which is unnecessary in order to prepare for, and open their hearts to, the one who is coming, one mightier than John who will baptize them with the Holy Spirit. The audience of the Second Letter of Peter are similarly meant to understand that, since the Lord will come like a thief, they must conduct themselves in holiness and devotion, as they await new heavens and a new earth.  What was true for Christ’s first coming is true for his second coming as well:  we must expect and prepare for the extraordinary, for his arrival and revelation in our lives.

   The season of Advent is about announcing the kingdom we have not yet seen, a kingdom we cannot create on our own, but which we know to be extraordinary.  We must prepare every day for the coming of the Lord, through sacraments and prayer; we must get ready for his love to enter our lives, to change us, to allow his kingdom to come.  We prepare for the extraordinary when we come to him, ready to be transformed more profoundly.  For the more we allow God’s love to be manifest in our lives, the more prominent and transformative it will be in the world – for it is the love that has no limits, the infinite and extraordinary love of God.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source:  http://www.wordle.net 

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