Saturday, December 14, 2013

Turn Back the Hearts


[Elijah], you were destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD, to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.  Blessed is he who shall have seen you and who falls asleep in your friendship.  Sirach 48:10-11

“Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”  He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased.  So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.”  Matthew 17:10B-12

Piety
Father, help us to hear the message in our midst and recognize the signs of the season. 

Study
Advent season gives us time to prepare to get the order of things correct.  As we are tugged into “affluenza” and consumption, how can we turn back to see the real reason for the preparation? 
Elijah and John both performed their duties without a chance to enjoy the fruits of their labors.  They brought forth the word of God’s friendship to help “turn back the hearts”” of those who had strayed.  John’s message also was one of change – “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” 

Action
What is at hand for us?  What beckons us?  Sears or Sirach?  Matthew or Macy’s?  Psalms or Safeway?  What do we encounter along the way of this journey?
Prepare yourself like the shepherds and the Magi to leave what occupies you and turn back to visit the Lord when he appears. 

What is in our hands?  What tools can we use and how will we use them?  We can cause comfort of suffering or neither throughout indifference.  John and Elijah accepted their mission.  Let us not be indifferent to what we are called to be and to do this Advent. 

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