+ On these days in later Advent, as we continue to ready ourselves for this year's celebration of the birthday of Jesus, we once again turn to the ministries of both Jesus and John the Baptist for a clue as to how to approach such a birthday. Our gospel passage today tells us that Jesus came to do his Father's will, and that all of us need to be likeminded: we must be intent on actually doing the Father's will in our own lives. We must not just say that we are going to do it, then not really do it; we must do it, even if we don't entirely understand it or even agree entirely with what we are doing. If we do it because we know that God tells us to do it, then that is enough.
In this way, Jesus said that a great many good people will enter the Kingdom, before those who say that are entirely religious and don't really show it by their actions: as he put it: the tax collectors and prostitutes believed in John the Baptist's exhortation to repent and do good and they tried to change their lives to reflect that belief.
May we today continue to prepare for Christmas by not only believing in God and his call to conversion to a really good lifestyle, but let us actually live that lifestyle with his help. Our first reading today tells us how eager God is to save himself a remnant: a small group of people who really "get" what "life in him" and with his help, is all about. May we be a people of the remnant in our modern world which is becoming at-large more self-centered, self-absorbed and pagan every day.
Come, O Lord, do not delay; forgive the sins of your people!
No comments:
Post a Comment