The Spirit of Life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the changes that the Spirit reveals to us in this Advent season to bring us more fully into presenting the truth and love of God to the people in our lives.

The Spirit of Truth and Life

The reading from the Prophet Isaiah describes the Peaceful Kingdom and the return of the remnant of Israel and Judah.

* [11:1–16] Isaiah 11 contains a prophecy of the rise of a new Davidic king who will embody the ancient ideal of Davidic kingship (vv. 1–9), an elaboration of that prophecy in a further description of that king’s rule (v. 10), and a prophecy of God’s deliverance of the chosen people from exile and cessation of enmities (vv. 11–16).

* [11:1–9 (10)] Here Isaiah looks forward to a new Davidide who will realize the ancient ideals (see Ps 72). The oracle does not seem to have a particular historical person in mind. (Isaiah, CHAPTER 11, n.d.)

Psalm 72 is a prayer for Guidance and Support for the King.

* [Psalm 72] A royal Psalm in which the Israelite king, as the representative of God, is the instrument of divine justice (Ps 72:1–4, 12–14) and blessing (Ps 72:5–7, 15–17) for the whole world. The king is human, giving only what he has received from God. Hence intercession must be made for him. The extravagant language is typical of oriental royal courts. (Psalms, PSALM 72, n.d.)

The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans declares the Gospel for Jews and Gentiles alike.

* [15:5] Think in harmony: a Greco-Roman ideal. Not rigid uniformity of thought and expression but thoughtful consideration of other people’s views finds expression here.

* [15:7–13] True oneness of mind is found in pondering the ultimate mission of the church: to bring it about that God’s name be glorified throughout the world and that Jesus Christ be universally recognized as God’s gift to all humanity. Paul here prepares his addressees for the climactic appeal he is about to make. (Romans, CHAPTER 15, n.d.)

The Gospel of Matthew describes the Proclamation of John the Baptist.

* [3:11] Baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire: the water baptism of John will be followed by an “immersion” of the repentant in the cleansing power of the Spirit of God, and of the unrepentant in the destroying power of God’s judgment. However, some see the holy Spirit and fire as synonymous, and the effect of this “baptism” as either purification or destruction. See note on Lk 3:16.

* [3:12] The discrimination between the good and the bad is compared to the procedure by which a farmer separates wheat and chaff. The winnowing fan was a forklike shovel with which the threshed wheat was thrown into the air. The kernels fell to the ground; the light chaff, blown off by the wind, was gathered and burned up. (Matthew, CHAPTER 3, n.d.)

Vivian Amu comments that sometimes we forget to stay in the moment of Advent a bit longer and more intentionally, even though it might seem easier to just look ahead.

So, today I am quite drawn to the prompt of John the Baptist to prepare in a deeper way to experience God and to do God’s work, to repent, forgive, and bear good fruit.  As we prepare our hearts, we prepare a way for God to enliven and transform us.  Preparing a way for God, preparing a welcoming place for Jesus in my heart, demands that I live a life that shows a spirit of understanding, wisdom, endurance, courage, harmony, truthfulness, authenticity, and reconciliation.  Preparing a way for the Lord and making the way straight also means listening to God intentionally and removing the blockages and obstacles which prevent God from coming close to me.  Advent might also be a good time for me to intentionally look into the parts of my life that need straightening out and then maybe in the process even find the courage to stay a little while longer in the discomfort of waiting and preparation which could sometimes fill the Advent space. (Amu, 2022)

Don Schwager quotes “The voice of the one crying in the wilderness,” by Theodoret of Cyr 393-466 A.D.

"The true consolation, the genuine comfort and the real deliverance from the iniquities of humankind is the incarnation of our God and Savior. Now the first who acted as herald of this event was the inspired John the Baptist. Accordingly, the prophetic text proclaims the realities that relate to him in advance, for that is what the three blessed Evangelists have taught us and that the most divine Mark has even made the prologue of his work. As for the inspired John, whom the Pharisees asked whether he himself was the Christ, he declared on his part: 'I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord' as the prophet Isaiah said (John 1:23; Isaiah 40:30); I am not God the Word but a voice, for it is as a herald that I am announcing God the Word, who is incarnate. Moreover, he refers to the Gentiles as the 'untrodden [land]' because they have not yet received the prophetic stamp." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 12.40.3) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 3:1-12 comments that God wants to give us a new way of thinking and acting. He wants to replace our foolishness with his wisdom. He wants to give us insights into his love and all that he can do in our hearts. And he wants to give us strength to obey his commands. But we have to come to him and confess our need.

At Mass today, you will be invited to cry out, “Lord, have mercy.” But you will also ask Jesus, “Only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.” Jesus loves to forgive your sins, but he longs to heal your soul—your “roots”—even more. So welcome him in. Ask his Spirit to keep making you into a new creation.

“Come, Lord, teach me to bear fruit in keeping with my repentance.” (Meditation on Matthew 3:1-12, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler describes the change of focus of Isaiah from hope in the next king to a conviction that God would choose a Messiah in the line of David who would be associated with the gifts of the Spirit upon Israel. Our destruction of some of our bonds with Nature will be restored and Paul understands that the separation of Jews and Gentiles will cease as we become one community. Friar Jude notes the time that John the Baptist spent with the Essenes is reflected in the warning to accept the Word of God or pay the price.

Brian McLaren shares how Father Richard Rohr, OFM, writes of how we grow in faith by letting go of our need for certainty. Some would think that is the whole meaning of Christianity: to be able to decide who’s going to heaven and who isn’t, who is holy and who is unholy. This is much more a search for control than it is a search for truth, love, or God. It has to do with ego, which needs to pigeonhole everything to give itself that sense of “I know” and “I am in control.” God knew that religion would take this direction. So, God said, “Don’t do it. Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God is trying to keep us from a lust for certitude, an undue need for explanation, resolution, and answers. Frankly, these things make biblical faith impossible.

It seems that God is asking humanity to live inside of a cosmic humility. In that holding pattern, instead of insisting on dividing reality into the good and the bad, we bear the ambiguity, the inconsistencies, and the brokenness of all things. It is our ultimate act of solidarity with humanity and with the world.

When we are allowed to name certain individuals as “bad,” persecution, scapegoating, and violence almost always follow. When we too easily presume that we are one of the “good” people, we largely live in illusion and prejudice. I say this as a religious person, but religion has been the justification of much of the violence in human history. God wanted to undercut that very violence at the beginning. (McLaren, 2022)

We are urged to prepare in Advent for change in our journey that resonates with the transformation of the world through Jesus Incarnation.

References

Amu, V. (2022, December 4). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/120422.html 

Isaiah, CHAPTER 11. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/11?1 

Matthew, CHAPTER 3. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/3?1 

McLaren, B. (2022, December 4). We Don't Need to Know — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/we-dont-need-to-know-2022-12-04/ 

Meditation on Matthew 3:1-12. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/12/04/548141/ 

Psalms, PSALM 72. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/72?1 

Romans, CHAPTER 15. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/15?4 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). John Points to the Coming of Christ and His Kingdom. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=dec4 

Teaching Care for the People

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, today, the Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, invite us to be open to the prompting of the Spirit and the teaching of members of our community concerning our mission as followers of Christ.

Teaching and Learning the Way

The reading from the Prophet Isaiah declares that your Teacher will not hide himself any more.

* [30:20] Teacher: God, who in the past made the people blind and deaf through the prophetic message (6:9–10) and who in his anger hid his face from the house of Jacob (8:17), shall in the future help them to understand his teaching clearly (cf. Jer 31:34). (Isaiah, CHAPTER 30, n.d.)

Psalm 147 offers praise for God’s Care for Jerusalem.

* [Psalm 147] The hymn is divided into three sections by the calls to praise in Ps 147:1, 7, 12. The first section praises the powerful creator who restores exiled Judah (Ps 147:1–6); the second section, the creator who provides food to animals and human beings; the third and climactic section exhorts the holy city to recognize it has been re-created and made the place of disclosure for God’s word, a word as life-giving as water. (Psalms, PSALM 147, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, we learn the harvest Is great but the labourers are few  as Jesus initiates the Mission of the Twelve Apostles.

* [9:37–38] This Q saying (see Lk 10:2) is only imperfectly related to this context. It presupposes that only God (the master of the harvest) can take the initiative in sending out preachers of the gospel, whereas in Matthew’s setting it leads into Mt 10 where Jesus does so. (Matthew, CHAPTER 9, n.d.)

Mike Cherney comments that the Gospel has Jesus showing his compassion and missioning his disciples to go out and carry on His work. While these are the normal Lectionary texts for Advent, the Gospel seems particularly appropriate to today’s feast of Saint Francis Xavier. 

When I read today’s Gospel, I was reminded of John F Kennedy’s inaugural address which concludes "here on earth God’s work must truly be our own." (Rereading its full text, I was reminded how many of the issues of 1961 remain issues today.) I can imagine that 500 years ago, St. Ignatius and his initial followers had many of the same responses to this Gospel of compassion and missioning. Francis Xavier, whom we commemorate today, was among these founding members of the Society of Jesus. He spent the last 11 years of his life (dying at only 46 years of age) on a mission initially to India and then repeatedly to the Far East. His was a mission in line with Jesus’ charge in today’s Gospel. While many of the existing clergy in India saw their role as being in service to the Portuguese (Francis Xavier was also given a royal charge of restoring Christianity to Portuguese fortune seekers.), he often chose to build his community from the grassroots based on service to the indigenous population including a willingness to recognize the language and ways of other cultures. His concern for the poor and sick, along with the development of local leaders showed the same aspects of compassion which I read in today’s description of Jesus.

Dear Lord,

Grant me trust in Your promises.

Strengthen my patience recognizing that which is “worth waiting for”.

Forgive me for the moments when I capitulate out of weakness.

Help me to identify my mission of service that is based on compassion. (Cherney, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “In remembrance of heavenly life,” by Bede the Venerable, 672-735 A.D.

"Why should the lunar reckoning be calculated from the noontide hours, seeing that the moon had not yet been placed in the heavens or gone forth over the earth? On the contrary, none of the feast days of the law began and ended at noon or in the afternoon, but all did so in the evening. Or else perchance it is because sinful Adam was reproached by the Lord 'in the cool of the afternoon' (Genesis 3:8) and thrust out from the joys of Paradise. In remembrance of that heavenly life which we changed for the tribulation of this world, the change of the moon, which imitates our toil by its everlasting waxing and waning, ought specifically to be observed at the hour in which we began our exile. In this way every day we may be reminded by the hour of the moon's changing of that verse, 'a fool changes as the moon' (Sirach 27:11) while the wise man 'shall live as long as the sun' (Psalm 72:5), and that we may sigh more ardently for that life, supremely blessed in eternal peace, when 'the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days.' Indeed, because (as it is written) 'from the moon is the sign of the feast day' (Sirach 43:7), and just as the first light of the moon was shed upon the world at eventide, so in the law it is compulsory that every feast day begin in the evening and end in the evening (see Exodus 12:18). (excerpt from THE RECKONING OF TIME 3.43) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26 comments that there are times when God seems like he isn’t answering our prayers, when, in fact, he is working on them. We may not be able to see his ultimate plan right away, but Isaiah wants us to know that God is not ignoring us. He is cultivating our faith and bringing us to greater holiness.

For example, we may equate an immediate answer from God with an immediate solution to our problem. Maybe we are praying for our spouse to finally seek help in dealing with an addiction. But even as we pray and wait, God can use this situation to build up the virtue of patience in us even as we endure the struggle. Or we may want God to do something for us—like put the right job in our path. But God may be inviting us to be like the persistent widow in Jesus’ parable and keep on looking ourselves (Luke 18:1-8).

God is always “gracious” to us, even when we can’t see it (Isaiah 30:19). May we always place our faith in him.

“Lord, help me to trust that you are always caring for me.” (Meditation on Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the description of Isaiah of the restoration of Israel in physical richness and in teaching of the Way of the Lord to the people. On our journey, God will make it better by walking with us through the difficulties. Friar Jude notes the reluctance of a Pharisee editor of the Gospel of Matthew to use the title of God. We are involved in the ministry of sharting the Good News by our actions, forgiveness, and prayer.

 Brian McLaren extends an invitation to contemplate the deep issues in the Christian faith in a spirit of openness.

God, Lord of all creation, lover of life and of everything, please help us to love in our very small way what You love infinitely and everywhere. We thank You that we can offer just this one prayer and that will be more than enough,  because in reality every thing and every one is connected, and nothing stands alone. To pray for one part is really to pray for the whole, and so we do. Help us each day to stand for love, for healing, for the good, for the diverse unity of the Body of Christ and all creation, because we know this is what You desire: as Jesus prayed, that all may be one. We offer our prayer together with all the holy names of God, we offer our prayer together with Christ, our Lord, Amen. (McLaren, 2022)

We are called to be part of sharing the transformation of our society in the Way of Jesus as we contemplate the teaching that we have received on our journey.

References

Cherney, M. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/120322.html 

Isaiah, CHAPTER 30. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/30?9 

Matthew, CHAPTER 9. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/9?35 

McLaren, B. (2022, December 3). The Future of Christianity: Weekly Summary — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-future-of-christianity-2022-12-03/ 

Meditation on Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/12/03/547643/ 

Psalms, PSALM 147. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/147?1 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture ... Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=dec3