St. Mary's Church Elizabeth, IL

12/1

Advent 2024 (1 week)

Read: Luke 3:7-18

The Jews had not the slightest doubt that in God's economy there was favored-nation paragraph, and they believed that God would judge other nations with one standard but the jews with another.  They believed that because they were Jewish, children of Abraham, they were exempt from judgment.  John the Baptist told them that racial privileges were meant nothing, that life, not lineage, was God's standard of judgement.

With this Sunday, we begin a new Christian year.  Time is important; this is a time for reflection and resolution, for thinking about the year ahead and beyond.  It is a time for dreaming dreams and sharing visions, a time for making decisions and acting on them as we ponder why we are here.  This Advent.  God is coming to us as he has done to his faithful people in the past.  We are called to vigilance to what is happening around us and to the coming reign of God.

Of all biblical descriptions of the kind of future which God intends for his creaton, the vision of the prophet Isaiah (2:1-5) is so true to life in its imagery, that it has been a source fo hope for countless people.  God wants a glorious future for us.  No more hunger or thirst, no more tears and pain, no more wars!  The Jews have had a word for that future- SHALOM-PEACE.  It includes all aspects of human life at its fullest and  most mature state.  Shalom means having everything we need to be wholly and happily oursleves, with the same being true for every person.  In short, Shalom, means the kingdom of God.  As envisioned by Isaiah it describes not just he absence of war or conflict bu the presence of love.   God's love and revealed in Christ shows a human life in which the reign of God was concretely made known in his ministry to others, in his suffering and death, and as God's love emerged triumphant in his resurrection.

Jesus today wants us to be alert and concerned to what goes on around us.  God's love can change the hearts and minds of individuals.  Can change us.  If we remain faithful to Christ, no other concern or involvement is to thwart God's purpose.  Let us not allow our indifference make decision to live more Christ, turning from sin and from living just for ourlseves, but to live lives that give more love and service for others.  

Fr. Joachim