Is 11:1-10/Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17/Rom 15:4-9/Mat 3:1-12
Every person long to return home after long journey. Home is where we hope to find peace, belonging and rest. But the readings of the day invite us to examine not only where we are going but how we are preparing our hearts for the homecoming. One of the founding fathers of United States, Benjamin Franklin once said that “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”, and a Guinean proverb adds that, “to make preparations does not spoilt the trip.” Adequate preparation provides a sense of security and hope.
Today’s Gospel is saying everything in the past, in the book of the bible is pointing to the prophecy about the child to be born. How important this child will be. Every thing is about the child :- speak to the heart, His coming shall be a time of restoration of justice whose fruit is peace, to the extend that enemies shall live together with no iota of fear of one another; the wolf dwelling with the lamb, leopard with the kid, the calf with lion, and the like. How important this child is going to be – all is telling us what the child will be as he grows. The Prophecy about this child is enormous.
Christmas is not a time of happiness, sharing gifts but it is about what the whole history is about. History that points to what this child is about. Advent asks us to hope for the coming of this child. The whole history is about him, about Jesus Christ. The entire history reaches its completion upon his arrival. Place yourself with him and you will be on the side of history.
Paul, in the 2nd Reading, exhorts the members of the Christian community that at the advent of the Lord, they must be charitable to another, loving and showing mutual respect. He is informed about the tension in Rome between the two groups of people, the “weak” (who follow the traditional form of religion with prayer, mortification and the like) and the “strong” (who consider such things as small things, except faithfulness to Christ). So, he urges them not to enslave themselves and others but welcome one another as Christ does to all. We too, sometimes allow passions, hard feelings, selfishness, hatred, envy, and the like, to enslave us. May we end all these forms of slavery as we prepare to welcome our Saviour into our homes.
PRAYER:
That we may without fear or favour proclaim the need to prepare for the coming of the Lord in our lives.
For the grace to use Advent to straighten the crooked ways, fill the valleys and level all the hills in our lives.
Lord, bring comfort and consolation to all who are suffering.
Always know that you are all in my prayers.
Fr. Alex Osei
SSC-USA Spiritual Director