The candles have all been lit.
The story of salvation has been told.
The saints of the season have been celebrated.
All the verses of the waiting song have been sung.
And we wait with joyful anticipation for Advent's grand and glorious finale.
May the final moments of Advent prepare you richly for Emmanuel, God With Us!
Blessings to you all this Christmas.
The Feast of Santa Lucia
Gaudete Sunday
In the tender compassion of our God
The dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
And the shadow of death,
And to guide our feet into the way of peace.
P.S.--Real men wear pink.
We see them mentioned so often in the weeks preceding Christmas, these needy folks. Bells ring on their behalf and we toss our surplus coins in their pouches, relieved not to be counted among them. Their names hang written on paper angels, we snatch them from the tree in the back of church and graciously wrap gifts to warm their hearts. We feel good for having helped. And we should.
But the Lord says to us:
"Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool."
And how does this happen? Is it our own doing? Do we set ourselves right with the Lord? Do we purify ourselves from our sin?
No, when it comes to salvation, we are all nothing but beggars. We are the needy. It is we for whom the tiny bell rings at the gate of heaven. It is our name that hangs limp on the Tree of Life. It is we who wait and hope that someone will turn in our direction this Christmas, not leave us bereft and empty-handed while the rest of the world rejoices. It is we who beg for the gift-the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal value.
Let us wait with the anticipation of a child unsure of whether there will a gift for him. Let us beg with the zeal of one who is truly hungry. Let us lift feeble hands up to heavens, without assurance that they will be filled, in the blind faith driven by desperation.
All of creation awaits His coming. He who will bind our wounds and heal our broken hearts. He whose blood will erase the scarlet of sins and make us white as wool. And it is we whose strength stands eclipsed by our weakness, we whose abilities fade in comparison to our failures, we whose victories are far outnumbered by our defeats, who are needed. Our hearts are broken and our backs are bent. We are the lonely this Christmas. Our hands are empty and our mouths dissatisfied. We are the hungry this Christmas. We stand bereft before the Lord and wait. The bell rings on our behalf.
And He, unlike us, does not toss a handful of surplus grace our way. He sees our needy little faces, our outstretched hands, our broken hearts, and He gives the best gift He has, He gives that which He loves most. For us. He does what we cannot do for ourselves. And He does it in perfect love and tender mercy.
Are we groaning in anticipation? Are we slowing ourselves enough to feel the hunger, to know the need? Are we seeking Christ Present in the Holy Eucharist--tasting our salvation often enough that we crave it all the more?
We are the needy. Let us not forget. Lord, make us aware of our need, our hunger, our loneliness, our desperation. So that when you come, we are awake and ready. And we are awash with relief and joy when we hear you say as you said to Jerusalem:
"Your light will come. You will see His glory within you; the Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty."
...straight to my heart. I read these words from Pope Benedict XVI today and could not have been
more struck with the depth to which they speak to my heart this
Advent. There is much to ponder here. I'll be spending a lot of time
with this over the next few weeks I think:
"In contrast to that, true believing means looking the whole of reality in the face, unafraid and with an open heart, even if it goes against the picture of faith that, for whatever reason, we make for ourselves….
“We are rather too inclined to forget that in the Book of Job…God declares Job to be righteous — Job, who has hurled the most outrageous accusations at God — while he rejects Job’s friends as speakers of falsehood, those friends who had defended God and had found some kind of good sense and answer for everything.
“Observing Advent simply means talking with God the way Job did. It means just seeing the whole reality and burden of our Christian life without fear and bringing it before the face of God, as judge and savior, even if, like Job, we have no answer to give about it all, and the only thing left is to leave it to God himself to answer and to tell Him how we are standing here in our darkness with no answers.”
– Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, What it Means to Be a Christian, pp. 15-20. Ignatius Press, 2006.
Please take the time today to offer prayers for the December intentions of Our Holy Father, who guides us his Church is such wisdom and holiness.
December's Papal Intentions:
General: That children may be respected and loved and
never be the victims of exploitation in its various forms.
Mission: That at Christmas the peoples of the earth may
recognize in the Word Incarnate the light which illuminates every
man and that the Nations may open their doors to Christ, the Saviour
of the world.
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