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Each Advent reminds us that although
Jesus has already come into the World, and saved us
through his death and resurrection, he is not fully
received by us and the world is still in need of being
transformed by his presence. We are aware that there are
areas in our lives where the light of Christ is yet to be
spread and the power of Christ yet to be felt. The season
of Advent offers us yet another opportunity to welcome
Jesus and let his message of love transform our lives. The
word of God today invites us to deepen our faith in God
and thus be prepared and watchful for the Coming of the
Lord.
The prophet Isaiah spoke to the people of Israel at a
difficult time when they were threatened with war by the
Assyrians. Through Isaiah God asks the people to have
faith in Him and not to look for support from the pagan
kings. What God demanded from His people was an
unshakeable trust in His power. If they trust in the Lord
they will enjoy his peace and protection. He will gather
them on mount Zion, into the house of the Lord; he will
teach them his ways. But the leaders of the people of
Israel did not listen to the word of God and, as a
consequence, the kingdom was taken away from them.
We too are living in a time when violence
and hatred are almost a daily affair; Beliefs and
religions divide us and result in war. Our times have
witnessed the worst type of hatred and cruelty of the
Holocaust. A Jewish Rabbi, Barry Marcus, spoke to the
English children who visited the concentration camp of
Auschwitz recently: “Whatever reason has brought you here
my friends, let us walk out of here in gratitude, Let us
leave with a sense of humility and respect and let us
hopefully never see another human being feel the pain of
being alone, or abandoned, let us undertake as we stand
here, not to be fearful of those who may look different or
think differently, or worship differently, because
otherwise we will have sadly failed as human beings.
The main reason for such a dreadful
situation today is that we live as though God is absent
from this world. Our ego and selfishness become our God
and we worship them. Pope John Paul II urged the youth
during the World Youth Day in Canada in 2002 with these
words: “In this secularized age, when many of your
contemporaries think and act as if God did not exist, or
are attracted to irrational forms of religion, it is you,
dear young people, who must show that faith is a personal
decision which involves your whole life. Let the Gospel
be the measure and guide which involves your whole life.”
The Pope is simply emphasizing what the readings of today
are saying.
What is really faith? It is letting God to be God of
our lives, allowing Him to lead our lives. Pedro Arrupe,
the former Superior General of the Jesuits, whose birth
centenary is celebrated this year, was an outstanding
example of faith. A miracle that he witnessed at the
shrine of Lourdes that really led him to choose religious
life. It was just at the close of the Vatican 11 that he
was elected the Superior general and he had to live
through tough times of renewal and changes. In September
1981 he suffered a massive stroke from which he never
fully recovered. When he was brought in a wheelchair to
the delegates meeting he had a note written on a piece of
paper that was read by someone before the delegates:
“More than ever, I now found myself in the hands of God.
This is what I wanted all my life, from my youth. And this
is still one thing I want. But now there is a difference:
the initiative is entirely from God. It is indeed a
profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself
totally in God’s hands”.
Advent is the season to deepen our faith
in God who is in charge of the world. Faith means, as
Pedro Aruppe expresses, to be totally in the hands of God;
it is to be in a wheelchair that is pushed and pulled by
God. Of course that does not mean that we have to be
passive and without initiatives. But in whatever we do it
is God who has to be the centre of our lives and for whom
and to whom we exist.
The second reading, from the letter to the Romans, tells
us more clearly what faith truly means: “It is full time
now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to
us than we first believed, the night is far gone, the
night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armour of light…Put on
the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the
flesh”.
These
are the Scriptural words that influenced St. Augustine
most as we find in his confessions. Augustine, after
mentioning his sinful life and the emptiness that he
experienced, tells us the story of his conversion: " And
suddenly I heard a voice from some nearby house, a boy's
voice or a girl's voice, I do not know: but it was a sort
of singsong, repeated again and again. "Take and read,
take and read." …Damming back the flood of my tears I
arose, interpreting the incident as quite certainly a
divine command to open my book of Scripture and read the
passage at which I should open. .. I snatched [the
Apostle's book] up, opened it and in silence read the
passage upon which my eyes first fell: "Not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in
contention and envy, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences"
[Rom. xiii, 13]. I had no wish to read further, and no
need. For in that instant, with the very ending of the
sentence, it was as though a light of utter confidence
shone in all my heart, and all the darkness of uncertainty
vanished away
The Gospel as
well as the second reading tell us to wake up and be
watchful. Those who are in sleep do not see; their eyes
are closed. We need to wake up in order to see. Both Jesus
and Paul invite us to see, to see everything with the eyes
of Jesus. That exactly what faith means. It is like having
a new vision. Let this Advent help us to cast off the
works of darkness and put on Christ, the armour of light.
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