How radical are you feeling today?
One way of thinking about the time of Advent is to consider
it a time of conversion – perhaps even radical
conversion. When John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins, that was pretty radical stuff! John, born to a family of priests, is
ministering to people in the desert, people who need to cross over to another
side, either literally or spiritually.
John can preach about people starting over, removing barriers, opening
themselves to relationship with God, precisely because he himself has done just
that: he is allowing God to work in him,
to bring the people to God. And he is
announcing a new way: the way of the Lord. Pretty radical!
The references to radical conversion in our first reading this
Sunday, from Baruch, are more direct: Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning
and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever. The conversion takes on vestment imagery: the prophet speaks of donning cloaks and
mitres as a way of imagining clothing oneself in God. To wear God, so to speak, is to embrace God’s
love and all it represents, that is, all that connects us, all that brings us
together in union. And in so doing, we
take on a new identity in God – another radical
transformation. And thus, as St. Paul
tells the Philippians, our love may
increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception. Our openness to God allows God to
complete His work in us until the day of
Christ Jesus. Radical stuff, for a
radical season!
How radical are you feeling today?
This reflection is based on notes from Fr. Pat's Thursday Scripture class.
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