- \n
- Advent features a double-dynamism in which we prepare to run out to meet Christ who comes to us in history (Bethlehem), mystery (prayer, the Sacraments, his word, and other) and majesty (on the clouds of heaven at the end of time). To live Advent well, we must enter into what Jesus is trying to do in his triple coming and must learn the dispositions God helps us to see that we need in order to embrace Christ in what he\u2019s trying to do. Today\u2019s readings help us to do both.<\/li>\n
- We begin with Jesus himself coming into the world. Isaiah tells us today about the \u201cshoot\u201d that will \u201csprout from the stump of Jesse.\u201d Jesse was David\u2019s father and David began the Davidic line of kings. Just two generations after David, however, there were attacks to that line and eventually the kingdom of Judah and Israel would be chopped down. Jesse\u2019s line was just a \u201cstump,\u201d but Isaiah foretells that a \u201cshoot shall sprout\u201d from it, fomenting among the Jews the longing for the Messiah, the longing ultimately for Jesus. Isaiah tells us that he would be filled with a spirit of God, that the Spirit would rest on him, the \u201cspirit of wisdom and of understanding, \u2026 of counsel and of strength, \u2026 of knowledge and of fear of the Lord.\u201d When Jesus entered the Nazareth synagogue to preach for the first time, he cited Isaiah, said, \u201cThe\u00a0Spirit of the Lord is upon me,\u201d and gave the purpose of that anointing: \u201cbecause he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, \u2026 \u00a0to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,\u00a0 and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.\u201d He would bring justice to the world, not judging by appearances or deciding by hearsay, and that new ordering of things in his kingdom would bring about a revolution. Isaiah describes it by means of unimaginable consequences in the animal kingdom: then wolves and lambs, leopards and kids, calves and lions, cows and bears, children and cobras, will play together without fear, without bloodshed, without destruction. If that\u2019s what the shoot from Jesse\u2019s stump will bring to the animal kingdom, how much of a greater impact should he have on human beings, when he helps us to live according to his justice, to enter his kingdom, to receive that same Spirit that fills him with wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge and awe of the Lord! That\u2019s the one who is coming in history, mystery, and majesty.<\/li>\n
- How are supposed to prepare for that coming? Today the Gospel reveals to us two essential attitudes.\n
- \n
- The first is childlike trust. Jesus praised his Father for his \u201cgracious will\u201d to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom to the \u201cchildlike,\u201d to those who trust in his as beloved children, to those who are docile, uncomplicated and dependent on his providential care and love. These mysteries are hidden from the \u201cwise and the clever\u201d of the world not because God doesn\u2019t want them to receive the revelation and come to salvation but because they obscure their own perception of revelation through their own complications and complications. The fullness of that revelation, Jesus says, is the knowledge of the Father and the mystery of his love. The fullness of that revelation is seen in the image of the Father, Christ himself, who incarnated that wisdom. Elsewhere in the Gospel Jesus said that unless we convert and become like little children, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. Unless we learn to trust in him, unless we learn to depend on him, unless we recognize that we\u2019re never going to be \u201cself-sufficient,\u201d no longer dependent on God, but always poor before the riches with which he wants to bless us, we won\u2019t be able to understand his kingdom and receive it like a little child rather than thinking, erroneously, that we need to \u201cearn\u201d it by our own efforts. St. Therese Lisieux said that one of the worst things that can happen to us is when we begin to think we can do everything on our own, to say to God the Father, \u201cThanks, Dad, but I\u2019ve got it on my own. I no longer need you.\u201d The essence of spiritual childhood is to grasp that we\u2019re always dependent on God, that to grow to full stature in Christ, to grow to Christian maturity, means to enter into Jesus\u2019 divine filiation and recognize that God the Father is always providing, even when we\u2019re unaware.<\/li>\n
- The second attitude is joy.\u00a0At the beginning of the Gospel, St. Luke tells us, \u201cJesus\u00a0rejoiced<\/em>\u00a0in the Holy Spirit.\u201d He was full of joy at the reality that it was God the Father\u2019s \u201cgracious will\u201d to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom to the \u201cchildlike.\u201d At the end of today\u2019s Gospel, Jesus turned to his disciples and told them, \u201cBlessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.\u201d All the great heroes of Old Testament times hungered to receive \u201call the things\u201d that had been handed over to Christ by the Father. They longed to see and hear the fulfillment of all the prophecies in the Messiah who would be Son of God and Savior in a way far greater than they had imagined. Jesus rejoiced at their good fortune. If that\u2019s true, how much greater is Jesus\u2019 joy that we not only behold him in his real presence, hear his words in the Gospel, but have a chance to touch him and be touched by him in a way far more profound than even his disciples when he was proclaiming these words for the first time! This is why St. John, in his first letter, overflowing with joy wrote, \u201cWhat was from the beginning, what we have\u00a0heard<\/em>, what we have\u00a0seen<\/em>\u00a0with our eyes, what we looked upon and\u00a0touched<\/em>\u00a0with our hands concerning the Word of life \u2026 we proclaim now to you \u2026 so that our joy may be complete.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Jesus came into the world\u00a0to share that joy and continues to want to fill us with it, but we only will enter into it when we receive it in such a way that we want everyone else to share it, too.\u00a0We, too, have been anointed with the Holy Spirit in Confirmation precisely to bring the joy of God\u2019s revelation to others. Just as the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and immediately burst through the closed doors of the Upper Room to proclaim the good news of great joy revealed in Christ\u2019s words, life, death and resurrection, so the Holy Spirit wants to fill us with the fruit of joy (Gal 5:22) and help us to bring that joy to others. Advent is a time\u00a0in which we seek to help others to become more childlike in the faith, too, and to grasp the true meaning of the season, by helping them to see that it\u2019s not about material presents but the Pearl of Great Price whom God the Father gives us from heaven. It\u2019s a time in which we remember with what longing we prepared for Christmas, with the fascination we had before the cr\u00e8che and ask God to rekindle that childlike love and wisdom so that contagiously we can pass that on to others.<\/li>\n
- And the greatest way we do that is here at Mass, where we seek to receive Jesus with the same love and devotion we did as children for the first time, where we recognize that we\u2019re not worthy to receive him under our roof, but that he gives us his word and grace of conversion, where we are emboldened after confession and Holy Communion to \u201cdo more\u201d and go out to bring to others this joy. How blessed are our eyes to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world here on the altar! How blessed are our ears to hear him speaking to us today! How blessed are we as a whole to have received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who once again today seeks to come down upon us to make us one body, one spirit in Christ. We turn in prayer to Jesus whom we’re about to receive and beg him for all the graces He knows we need to become more childlike, to become more filled with joy, so that we might spend\u00a0our lives bringing that joy flowing from divine filiation out to those around us.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
The readings for today\u2019s Mass were:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
\nReading 1\u00a0IS 11:1-10<\/a><\/h4>\n
On that day,
\nA shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
\nand from his roots a bud shall blossom.
\nThe Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:
\na Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
\nA Spirit of counsel and of strength,
\na Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,
\nand his delight shall be the fear of the LORD.
\nNot by appearance shall he judge,
\nnor by hearsay shall he decide,
\nBut he shall judge the poor with justice,
\nand decide aright for the land\u2019s afflicted.
\nHe shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
\nand with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
\nJustice shall be the band around his waist,
\nand faithfulness a belt upon his hips.<\/div>\nThen the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
\nand the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
\nThe calf and the young lion shall browse together,
\nwith a little child to guide them.
\nThe cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
\ntogether their young shall rest;
\nthe lion shall eat hay like the ox.
\nThe baby shall play by the cobra\u2019s den,
\nand the child lay his hand on the adder\u2019s lair.
\nThere shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
\nfor the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,
\nas water covers the sea.On that day,
\nThe root of Jesse,
\nset up as a signal for the nations,
\nThe Gentiles shall seek out,
\nfor his dwelling shall be glorious.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nResponsorial Psalm\u00a0PS 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17<\/a><\/h4>\n
R. (see 7)\u00a0Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
\nO God, with your judgment endow the king,
\nand with your justice, the king\u2019s son;
\nHe shall govern your people with justice
\nand your afflicted ones with judgment.
\nR.\u00a0Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
\nJustice shall flower in his days,
\nand profound peace, till the moon be no more.
\nMay he rule from sea to sea,
\nand from the River to the ends of the earth.
\nR.\u00a0Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
\nHe shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
\nand the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
\nHe shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
\nthe lives of the poor he shall save.
\nR.\u00a0Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
\nMay his name be blessed forever;
\nas long as the sun his name shall remain.
\nIn him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
\nall the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
\nR.\u00a0Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.<\/p>\nAlleluia<\/h4>\n
R.\u00a0Alleluia, alleluia.
\nBehold, our Lord shall come with power;
\nhe will enlighten the eyes of his servants.
\nR.\u00a0Alleluia, alleluia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nGospel\u00a0LK 10:21-24<\/a><\/h4>\n
![\"lion-and-lamb2\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/lion-and-lamb2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"