The texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today begin the season of Advent. The new liturgical year begins for the Church. The Book of Isaiah creates the picture of that time when the tribes of the Earth will come together drawn to the mountain of the Lord where they will learn to beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Today this time appears distant and the yearning of the faithful for the time envisioned by Isaiah is strong. Matthew relates the episode where Jesus is instructing the disciples about the certain coming of the “end times”. Fr Larry Gillick, SJ, compares the instruction of Jesus to the announcement to a class in school or college that the test will be coming. (Gillick SJ, 2010) This always seems to generate questions about the timing and nature of the examination. The ability to live in expectation of the second coming prepared to trust in the faith which has grown through the living of the intimate relationship with the Divine is the gift of Jesus to us at Christmas. The gift may be received at any time. It is never refused or revoked. The teacher suggests that anxiety about the test or confusion about the test contents are not required for those who have kept up with the daily work of the course. The daily life in the Way of intimate relationship with the Divine is the reassurance that the time seen by Isaiah is in the future for humanity.
Gillick SJ, L. (2010, November 28). Daily Reflections. Retrieved November 2010, 2010, from Creighton University Online Ministries : http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/112810.html
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