3rd Week of Advent, Wednesday, Dec 14
Isaiah 45:6-8, 18, 21-26 / Luke 7:19-23
Isaiah’s prophesies; Turn to me and be saved.
The kind of trust Lincoln had in God's help demonstrates the kind of trust God invites all of us to have in his providence, especially on the threshold of his Son's coming.
***
What keeps us from greater trust in God? Those who abandon themselves to God will never be abandoned by him.
***
People and events are agents of salvation: heaven and earth cooperate, but ultimately it is God who saves through people. In the first reading, through the prophet, God addresses Cyrus the Great, who let the Jews return from exile. He was an instrument of God to bring liberation to the Jews. Also, pagans are called to salvation.
***
The season of Advent has a dual spiritual purpose. It is a time of preparation for the celebration of the Lord's birth. And it is also a time of waiting for that joyful day to come. This preparation and waiting also focuses on the second coming of Christ when all would be made new and our hope would be fulfilled with rejoicing.
Yet in this season of Advent, the commercialization of the festive season with its busyness of material preparation often takes the focus away from the spiritual dimension. So, the question that the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus is also a good question for our reflection for the season.
Is Jesus the one whom we are preparing and waiting for, or are we waiting for someone or something else? The first line of the 1st reading gives us a strong reminder - Apart from Me, all is nothing. Yes, apart from Jesus, this season with all its festivities and merry-making would be empty and mean nothing. May we not lose focus nor the faith in Jesus in this season of preparation and waiting.
***
When he is asked by the disciples of John whether he was the expected Messiah or whether they had to wait for someone else, Jesus reminds them of what the prophets had foretold about the Messiah and to look at what Jesus was doing. He restored the sight of the blind, made the deaf hear, cured lepers and proclaimed the good news of the kingdom to those poor in any way. Was that not a sufficient answer?
***
Prayer
Lord our God, in your concern for people you want all to be saved. We pray you today that we may be ready to receive you, your justice and your peace, and that in your hands we may be eager instruments to share your integrity and love with all willing to listen. We ask you this through Christ our Lord. Amen
***
Saint John of the Cross (c. 1542-1591)
Feast Day December 14
John of the Cross was locked in a cell six feet wide and ten feet long for nine months, with no light except that which filtered through a slit high up in the wall. He later forgave the men who had imprisoned him. How could he do that? He explained, “Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.”
John’s father had been disowned by his wealthy Spanish family when he married a poor weaver rather than a woman of equal economic status. Living in poverty proved to be too much for him, and he died shortly after John was born. John spent much of his youth in an orphanage, where he was clothed, fed, and given an elementary education. At the age of 17, he found a job in a hospital and was accepted into a Jesuit college. In 1563 he entered the Carmelite Order. Eventually, he enrolled in another university, where he did so well that he was asked to teach a class and to help settle disputes.
When he met Teresa of Ávila and learned from her about the reform of the Carmelite Order, John decided to help with it. As part of this decision, he wore sandals instead of shoes and lived very simply in prayer and solitude. In 1577 the attitude toward the reform shifted.
John was caught up in a misunderstanding and imprisoned at Toledo, Spain. During those months of darkness in that little cell, John could have become bitter, revengeful, or filled with despair. But instead, he kept himself open to God’s action, for no prison could separate him from God’s all-embracing love. During this time he had many beautiful experiences and encounters with God in prayer. Later he would describe these experiences in poetry. In 1578 John escaped to southern Spain to join the reformed Carmelites. There he held leadership positions and wrote reflections on his experiences, which showed his deep spirit of prayer. When he became ill, he chose to go to the city of Ubeda, where no one knew him. It was there that he died.
