3rd Week of Advent, Tuesday, Dec 13
Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 / Matthew 21:28-32
Zephaniah’s prophesies; I will prepare a humble people.
Charles Colson was a top Nixon aide. He went to prison in the Watergate scandal. Later he underwent a religious conversion. Today he spends all his time preaching the Gospel, especially to prisoners. Colson was deeply influenced by C. S. Lewis's book Mere Christianity. One passage, especially, touched him. “Pride leads to every other vice. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people... As long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” Commenting on the impact these words had on him, Colson said, "I felt naked and unclean. Lewis's words were describing me.”
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What role does pride play in our own life? “Learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit.” Matthew 11:29
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God had spoken continually to his people in words and deeds, yet they did not listen. But among them a remnant of poor people will return to God. With them, all the pagan, sinful nations will come to serve God. Sinners who recognize their poverty, are perhaps more open to God than those who boast of being righteous. Through them, their faithfulness, and zeal, all of the people, even outsiders, are inspired and become better.
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It seems that one of the most difficult feelings to cast off is the sense of shame. Be it personal shame, family shame, or shame in whatever scale or level, it is a feeling that brings people low and humiliated. During the time of Jesus, the tax collectors and prostitutes were never accepted as part of the community because of their shameful deeds. Their shame and humiliation hung on their necks for the rest of their lives.
So, what Jesus said was shocking when He said that tax collectors and prostitutes were making their way into the kingdom of God. Simply because God wants to remove the shame and humiliation of these rejected and despised people and restore their dignity and worth as His people.
The parable of the two sons also has a profound message for us. There is nothing more tragic than someone who started off well and ends up badly. And there is nothing more inspiring than someone who starts off badly but ends up well. Shame and guilt can happen along in life when we make mistakes and stray from the way of truth and love. But the truth is that we are created with dignity and worth.
God sent His only Son Jesus to remove our shame and guilt and to restore our dignity and worth. May we find refuge in our Lord and Saviour Jesus as we journey on this Advent into the heart of God.
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Prayer
Lord our God, you are close to the poor and the repentant. Do not allow us to be proud, that we may not trust in ourselves but teach us to be humble and lowly, that we may recognize our limitations and be open to you and to your coming through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
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Saint Lucy
Feast Day December 13
Do you remember the parable of the ten bridesmaids who waited for the bridegroom? Only five of them had brought flasks of oil to keep their oil lamps burning. These were permitted to enter the wedding banquet; the others were not. Lucy, whose name means "light" kept the light of her loyal faith burning through the experience of death. Now she is enjoying the eternal wedding banquet.
Like many of the early martyrs, little is known about Lucy. She was born in Sicily and died during the persecution of Diocletian. The fact that she is still mentioned in the first Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass shows the great respect that the Church has for her.
One story about Lucy is that she is said to have made a vow to remain unmarried. When the man to whom she was engaged found out, he turned her in as a Christian. She was tortured but remained faithful to Jesus Christ.
Lucy’s feast comes during Advent, when we wait for the coming of Christ, the Light of the World. The Scandinavian countries have a special way of celebrating this feast. A young girl is dressed in a white dress and a red sash (as the symbol of martyrdom). She carries palms and wears a crown of candles on her head. In Sweden, girls dressed as Lucy carry rolls and cookies in procession as songs are sung.
A Hungarian custom is to plant wheat in a small pot on St. Lucy’s feast. By Christmas green sprouts appear, signs of life coming from death. This symbolizes Lucy’s new life, an eternal wedding feast, and ours. The wheat is then carried to the manger scene as the symbol of Christ in the Eucharist.
