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2nd Advent Sunday

Caution. Construction Ahead!

December 7, 2021 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

Luke’s Gospel quotes the prophet Isaiah, describing the road we must travel throughout Advent (and in our lives) in order to see the signs of the times and reach the One foretold – our Emmanuel.

Like Mary and Joseph, we must travel through valleys, between hills and over mountains to reach the place where the census is being taken.  We have to weather life’s troubles, storms of despair and disappointment.  And, look out at the horizon from the joyful mountain peaks of our lives to view the beauty God has laid out for us.

And, then there’s the Magi.  They traveled to see the new-born child bringing with them a sack-full of Christmas presents.  With our families spread across the nation and world, and now with the pandemic, the ritual of travel toward togetherness is threatened by fear of contagion rather than anticipation of pleasure.  But, we journey onward each Advent season.  We journey toward Bethlehem to witness the miracle of Jesus’ birth.  We journey toward the end of all time, when Christ Jesus will come again.

If you took long road trips as a kid, you may have played travel games to help pass the time (and reduce the number of back-seat squabbles).  When you saw the sign “Exit Ahead” did you wish and wonder, “Are we there yet?”  Like those trips, we continue down the road to Bethlehem where we see some signs along our way.  Last week, Jesus warned us to be alert, watching for God’s unexpected activity in our lives and in our world.  Today, the sign we see is one that most of us dread seeing while along our highways – “Road Construction Ahead.”

Why is it that we tend to get upset when we see a sign for road construction?  That’s a sign that in the not too distant future (though probably more distant than we’d like) the road work will be complete.  But still, when we see that sign ROAD CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN NEXT WEEK, or see orange barrels or the concrete barricades we begin to get uptight and look for an alternate route.  Road construction signs signal: “inconvenience, hassles, delays.”  Is that what we feel when we see today’s signs in the Scriptures?  Road Construction.  Two more weeks until we get to sing Christmas carols outside of choir practice.  How long until we can hang the decorations on the tree?

Are you facing a sign of work in progress – Proceed with Caution!  Can you hear John the Baptist shouting out with the powerful words of the prophet Isaiah?  Does he bellow like a highway foreman, “Prepare the way of the Lord!  Make that path straight!  Fill that valley!  Get that mountain outta here!  Hey, what happened over there?  It’s all crooked!  Make it straight!  Smooth out that rough place!  We gotta show everyone the salvation of God.  Get busy!”

If you’ve observed road construction you know it is labor-intensive.  It’s not like a Lego project.  How’s God’s construction company doing with you?  Are you making new inroads to acknowledgement of the need for improvement?  This Advent, have you been working to smooth rocky relationships?  What about making repairs on your approach to people?  Are you consciously striving to be direct – saying what you mean and meaning what you say?  Are you bolstering up the pillars of your prayer life?  Are you repairing older sections of your highway to God?  Are you blasting out the bad habits and fortifying your daily schedule so there is a new, wider, safe path to settling into the spirit of Lectio?

Maybe God is opening up for you a new area of possibility – a new awakening to how you can expand your life of service and hospitality.  What new road is God building in your life?  No matter how we might like to think that we’ve got it all together, sooner or later we all need to make a little heavenly highway repair.  Our God promises to help us fix what’s broken in our lives; to come to our rescue and strengthen those areas of weakness that plague us so.  Jesus can remove those piles of junk, fill in the potholes, and strengthen the sagging places if we but stop trying to “do it my way” and allow God to be the one to put up the sign – “Caution.  Construction Ahead!”  And, then allow God to be the boss, the foreman, the project manager.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

First Reading: Baruch 5:1-9                   Second Reading: Philippians 1:4-6,8-11
Gospel Reading: Luke 3:1-6
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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily Tagged With: 2nd Advent Sunday, Advent, anticipation of Jesus, Caution, construction ahead, Emmanuel, Gospel, Luke, Magi, proceed with caution

The Best is Yet to Come

December 7, 2020 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

The Best is Yet to Come

To quote Notre Dame theology professor, Ralph Martin: “The page of a modern book that first catches our interest is the title page … Ancient books had no dust covers or words printed on the spine to arrest attention.  So the first page—or even, as here in (Mark’s) first sentence, (it) had to convey the writer’s main message.  This is exactly what Mark’s opening verse is trying to do: to alert the reader to what is to follow.  It is both his “table of contents” and title page brought together in a bold statement; “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” 

I suspect we’ve all had occasion to say, or hear, “You think this is great?  This is only the beginning.  The best is yet to come.”  Part of the surprise for us could be heard in this morning’s (Saturday) proclamation by the prophet Isaiah: “The harvest will come: rich and abundant; the towers will fall, the light of the moon will be like the sun and the light of the sun will be seven times greater like the light of seven days; the Lord will bind up the wounds of his people.”

While the opening line in Mark’s gospel points to Jesus, the first person he introduces is not Jesus, but the fiery preacher who came out of the desert resembling the Old Testament prophet Elijah.  Andrew Greeley observes that an important influence on Jesus was John the Baptist, whose ascetic lifestyle he continued to imitate.  John was no fashion plate, with camel hair clothing, leather sandals, and leather girdle around his waist.  His vegetarian diet was very simple: locusts (grasshoppers) and wild honey.  This information must have been important to the evangelist, or it would not have been noted.  So what might it symbolize?  Well, you cannot wear anything more fundamental in the way of clothing, or eat a more basic diet.  Could it be representative of John’s ministry of simple beginnings.  Like Mark says: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

And what a simple message John preached: “Don’t look to me for answers beyond what I have already told you.  Anything else will come from another, who is coming right after me.  He is so much greater than I that I am not even worthy to loosen his sandals straps.  (Remember, this was his younger cousin that he was talking about!)

John began his ministry in the wilderness, the worst possible place.  BUT IT WORKED!  Mark says: “all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem” came out to hear John.  What attracted them to trek 20-30 miles through the wilderness to listen to a man preach?!  That is all he did!  He never said how it would work, or why; he just announced it.  John’s preaching and charisma could bring people to God, but he could not take them beyond that.

How fitting, it strikes me, that we have John’s message of forgiveness and repentance as a prelude to our Penance Service this coming Wednesday evening.  God offers us, once again, an opportunity to sincerely repent.  To discern what it is that keeps “me” from being an effective channel of God’s compassion?  What are the “barnacles and burrs … the personality sandspurs” that keep others from seeing the God-image our Maker intended?  The reconciliation service will give us a chance, once again, to be our own critic and say, “You know what, God?  I’ve finally realized it’s not those others, it is just me.  This is just the way I’ve become — and I need help.”  In the quiet of your own heart, where God alone hears and listens, you can say, “I repent, send me your Spirit.”  The responsorial psalm (Psalm 85 adapted) promises us: “The Lord will give his benefits; kindness and truth shall meet; near indeed is God’s salvation.”

In the meanwhile, be mindful of Habakkuk’s prophecy (2:3).  “God may delay; He may tarry” … but God has a plan – God will not forget, but it will be done on God’s time.  Indeed, that is what the readings help us proclaim today, that the Holy Spirit has called each one of us to this place, at this time, for a divinely ordained purpose:  to embody the Benedictine charism and live out a specific mission – personally and communally.

~ Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

Readings:  Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11     2 Peter 3:8-14     Mark 1:1-8

 

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily Tagged With: 2nd Advent Sunday, Advent, Advent Sunday, Benedictine, Best is yet to come, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, Mark, Second Advent Sunday

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