Friday of 2nd week of Advent
“God’s wisdom is justified by its deeds. To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children shouting out to each other on the market places as they sit there .”We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn’t dance ; we sang dirges, and you wouldn’t be mourners.“This page of the Gospel tells us about the opinion Jesus had of his time, particularly of those who were hostile to Him. The time of Advent is a great opportunity, one not be missed, to think about who Jesus is for us, Jesus whom we listen to, and it is a chance to think about our incoherence, our inconsistence, our changing mentality : if it’s time to rejoice and dance, we can sulk with our ’Lenten head’; if it is the time for mourning and inner reflection, we cry not and don’t keep our silence! For indeed, we have hardly changed. The Coming of Jesus at Christmas ought to bring about a conversion in us for our call is to Joy which is given to us in Jesus, the Only Son of our Heavenly Father! Jesus is our Friend. When we are going through the strongest pain or times of great distress, his Word is a reminder of his Word : to ’Cry with those who cry, laugh with those who laugh…’.” But God’s Wisdom is justified by his deeds.’ We need to have the experience of Joy so as to accomplish God’s Will.
“For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say ’He is possessed!’ The Son of Man came, eating and drinking and they say ’Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”
Very often, we want to arrange things according to our own personnel tastes, our own ways of ’seeing’, or the way we feel about things. We like being exacting about others but have a hard time putting up with things others ask about us. Yet the Coming of Jesus at Christmas, the Coming of Jesus in us, ought to bring about a change of perspective. As Saint Francis of Assisi expressed so well :
’Lord, I seek not so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love."
We are all called to Joy, tot true lasting Joy given to us by Jesus Christ, the Only Son of our Heavenly Father! With Jesus, nothing will be like it was before! He
has changed the course of human history : ’Joy! Joy! Tears of Joy!’ said Blaise Pascal.
If we understood this Word and if we put it into practice, we would be truly happy, but we don’t know about eh experience of God’s peace, of the happiness there is in building with Christ! Jesus tells us it is a nourishment : ’My nourishment is to do the Will of my Father. This is how it is if we want to build up the Body of Christ that is the Church; it asks us to remain united in communion with others.
“But God’s wisdom is justified by its deeds.”
Jesus’ Gospel is the sure way to encounter his Person and his Work of Salvation. We often make of religion something to be sad about, under the pretext that it is something to be taken seriously. We forget that Jesus wanted to begin his Gospel by the Wedding Feast of Cana that wasn’t at all sad. He ends with the Resurrection, by the Greatest Joy of Heaven on earth. At Christmas we sing : ’ Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to all men of good will!’
During this Christmas season we need to be true; John the Baptist crosses over deserts proclaiming the Coming of the Lord Jesus. The question of what gives meaning to our lives is very much touched, as well as our happiness that becomes so real.
The Word of God and the Eucharist are given to us for us to receive Jesus and to accomplish His will. And so, moved by the Holy Spirit, we continue to build up God’s Work.
We ask fro the grace to let the Lord Jesus go before us and we offer in thanksgiving to God the inestimable treasure that comes to us : Jesus. In faith we welcome Him, and we want to put into practice what he tells us. He gives a new Love to us, this priceless treasure of our Christian life. Let us haste, to be reunited in just one flock, let us pursue unity by following the One True Christ.