Sunday, December 6, 2009


SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT.....IMAGES OF CHRIST

Who do you same I am? A very important question posed by Christ to His disciples. The same question comes down through the centuries addressed to all people. It is a question which everyone, in one way or another, has answered. The gospels for the second week speek very powerfully to me as to an answer to this question. There is no particular order in which these images come. Nor are they a complete portrait of the Lord. They are ways in which He relates to His Father and to us.

Mon.2nd Week of Advent (Luke 5:17-26)....Why did Jesus come? To confront and overcome the power of evil in the world. He usually demonstrates this mission by the working of miracles. Today’s Gospel bring us to a vivid picture of this mission. He tells us that the physical miracles are only signs of the greater miracle which He performs, the forgiveness of our sins. Christ is the one who stands before all the power of sin, and says:you have been defeated. He stands before sin itself and says to the sinner: you are forgive, He stands before the effects of sin, sickness,death and says: you are healed.
He brings together in Himself the two meanings of the “Son of Man”...the meaning of one who is the sufferer under the weight of human nature(Ezech.2) the other the one who comes in glory(Dan.7)
We have in this name which only Jesus applies to Himself and summation of the mission of the Lord. He is the suffering servant, the one who will take our sins upon Himself, but at the same time He is the glorious one. As Jesus walked the earth they both were part of His being...the death-life cycle. Our identification with the Lord also brings us into contact with this term “Son of Man”. We all feel the sinfulness of our human nature..the weakness of who we are. At the same, though, we have to remember that other person within us..the one who is to be born from this suffering, the Son of Man of Daniel.
The image of Christ as the suffering one and at the same time the glorious one reminds us who we are...in suffering we come to life..in dying we find that new person within us.

Tues,2nd Week of Advent (Matt.18:12-14)....What is the love of Christ for us? If we say that love is seeing the other, than perfect love is perfectly seeing the other. In today’s Gospel, we see an example of Jesus seeing the lost sheep. The question which arises for me is what is the relationship between the one and the ninety-nine? It is easy to focus so much on the lost sheep that we forget about the others. I would offer as a possibility in thinking of the love of Christ, that the one which he goes after is a symbol of the other ninety-nine . How much he cares, how much he “sees”. The lost sheep is a parable in a sense not of the one but of the many. Christ is telling us that he never sees the forest (the ninety-nine) but only the individual trees (the one). This is love. In one sense, then, the center of this story is the relationship which Jesus has to all of us .
However, we must also remember that it is a call to conversion. The ninety-nine in looking at the one are reminded of all the times they have strayed away. They see Jesus carrying the lamb back to the fold and recall all the times they have been carried. They see the warm tender concern of Jesus and remember the times the same tenderness was felt in their lives. They see the lamb coming back and feel within themselves the invitation to a deeper “coming back”, conversion within themselves.
We see the heart of Christ full of love, He sees us perfectly, and calls us always back to Himself.

(Feast of the Immaculate Conception..Gospel:Luke 1:29-38)
Wed.2nd Week Advent (Matt.11:28-30)… the Sermon on the Mount, especially the first few beatitudes ring out in today’s Gospel. “I am gentle and humble of heart” are the same words we find in the first and third Beatitudes. Jesus is identifying Himself with the poor, with the people of the Beatitudes. Perhaps it is not too much of a leap to say that in the Beatitudes Jesus is not giving commands but rather telling us how He relates to the Father and in this passage He invites us “come to me” to relate in the same way. Our points of identification with Jesus are increased. Increased to such an extent that He asks us to share that same love relationship with the Father which He has.
“Come to me” for me implies this life sharing. In sharing this life we are lifted to a new level of being, a new definition of who we are comes into play. I do not think, quite obviously, that “coming to the lord” is in some way going to take the cares and burdens of life off our shoulders...sometimes the very opposite is the case. The closer we get to the Lord the more, it seems, we are asked to share in the totality of who He is, both the Son of Man of Ezechiel and of Daniel. But what this refreshment does mean is that we see in living life a living of the beatitudes and that the things of life instead of drying up the zest to live are looked at as the very way we do live . Once again we are faced with the great paradox of Christianity..life-death, sadness-joy, burdens-freedom,dryness-refreshment.....this Gospel has always reminded me of the Jesus who has the greatest knack in the world for turning things upside down and inside out .

Thurs.2nd Week Advent (Matt.11:11-15)....The finger which points to a beautiful flower is important. Without it ,possibly, we would never have noticed the flower. But once we see the flower while being thankful for it having been pointed out to us the finger is soon forgotten...we are caught up in the beauty of flower. John the Baptist is the finger , the Lord is the flower. We are born into the Lord who is the kingdom incarnated. Once we are in Christ, just like when we see the flower, we get caught up in that to which the finger pointed us.
Christ is telling us that He and the message which is an explanation of who He is is the central thing.
Violence makes an appearance. How strange to run into “violence” at such a point in the gospel story. Yet so important. We live in a very violent world. The newspapers are filled with stories of violence. What does Jesus mean, The Prince of Peace talking about violence.
There seem to be two meanings in the Gospel. the first has to do with those who would destroy the kingdom..”the kingdom has suffered violence” persecution. But this violence is met with another type...the violence of patient endurance. It is not the violence of arms, quite the contrary. It is the violence of looking within ourselves and seeing the enemy within who would take the Kingdom from us...our own weakness. To attack this weakness with force and not to just sit back. To take the kingdom by force means the ongoing process of conversion...this patient endurance of growing in the Lord. It is not the violence of hurting people but it is the violence we have to do to ourselves. It consists in the dying to self . It also means the active searching for the Kingdom no matter where it leads us. sometimes this road is not easy, sometimes it is violent.

Fri.2nd Week of Advent (Matt.11:16-19)… Christ the obedient servant of His Father.....How could I extract this image of Jesus from today’s Gospel? The example which Jesus gives us is the clue. The children playing were not listening to their leaders....When I read this Gospel I am reminded of is a child ng in the middle of the room just saying “no” to anything and everything which his parents say. Every request made implied some sort of a change: eat this!No(change from not wanting) do this!No(something else I want to do).....today’s Gospel is about a willingness to change and this willingness is the center of obedience. The ordinary way we speak about people:not obedient. We usually use that term in reference to children but when we analyze it the same syndrome is operative in adults. Because we do not want to change we do not listen....and listening, in the responsive way, is what obedience is all about.
I compared those children to Jesus. He listened to his father, He was willing to change. Just think of the change He made, from the one sitting on the throne as the Alpha and Omega, and He changed into the servant. How many of us would be willing to change to that degree. I often wondered whether Jesus was thinking of His own relationship to the Father when He used this example.
In pointing out their unbelief was he comparing it to His obedience, in showing their lack of commitment and willingness to change to something higher was He reminding us of how much He changed because He loves us ?

Sat.2ndWeek (Matt.17:10-13)….”Son of Man” anchors the week. Jesus compares the death of John to His own death. He will be treated in the same way as His precursor was. If they could not accept John,the Elijah, they will not be able to accept him. If John was looked upon as a “bother” to the conscience of people so to would He be a “bother” and undergo the same treatment. He draws such a vivid connection between Himself and John that their fates become the same.
Who are the Baptists that I have killed in my own life and as a result have is a spiritual sense killed the Christ who wanted to be born within me. Bothersome little things which I cast aside as unimportant or just too busy to do....ideas which flit across the periphery of my mind which are not captured or pondered upon.
Many years ago a priest I know was taking an after lunch walk when he met a couple of parishioner . They chatted for a while. As they were about to say their good byes one of the parishioners said that she had seen some homeless people in a neighborhood park and wondered if the Church could do anything about helping them.
My friend, as he related to me later, answered “yes” without thinking.Once committed he went about getting things organized.....within a short period of time from that chance(?) encounter the Church was feeding over 300 people a day. He told me later that if had to think about it he never would have done it...just to much bother. I learned from that the bothersome things are not really that bad at all and the birth of Jesus which they bring about is certainly worth it. The Son of Man still sends His Elijahs into our lives and asks us to listen .


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