Guide Our Feet into the Way of Peace

Saturday of the Fourth Week in Advent - Mass in the Morning

“…when your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom.  He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will reprove him with a human rod and with human punishments.”  2 Samuel 12-14

“You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:76-79

Piety

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Study

The waiting is virtually over.  One more day remains for us, like David, to contemplate where the Lord will dwell in our time.  One more day remains for our soul in stillness to wait.  Then, we expect that the Savior promised throughout this season and in today’s scriptures will fulfill the promise. 

The Latin root is advenire, from ad- ‘to’ + venire ‘come’ and adventus meaning arrival.  The arrival will deliver us from the darkness of our worst instincts. The arrival will deliver us from the shadows to guide our feet on the path to peace. Despite the worst mankind has to offer – bombing Christmas markets, genocide in Aleppo, nuclear saber rattling, and more -- Christ continues to promise to come into this harsh world and make it better.

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it – because he is out of place in it, and yet must be in it – his place is with those others who do not belong, who are rejected because they are regarded as weak; and with those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, and are tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world. He is mysteriously present in those for whom there seems to be nothing but the world at its worst.  (Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable)

Action

When this day is complete, as night descends, the promises alluded to in today’s readings will come to fruition.  No longer will we be tempted or even asked to build a temple for the Lord like David in today’s readings or Peter during the Transfiguration.  Rather, the Lord will come to us -- to dwell in us.  The Lord promises to make us his temple. Then, we will be asked to live a life worthy of the visitor residing within us.

We will not go alone.  On this final day of Advent, let us pray for a modern-day John the Baptizer to guide our feet into the way of peace – a way that we might not find on our own.

https://youtu.be/z-WVIppNBls

Guide my feet while I run this race, (yes, my Lord!)
guide my feet while I run this race, (yes, my Lord!)
guide my feet while I run this race,
for I don't want to run this race in vain! (race in vain!)

Hold my hand while I run this race, (yes, my Lord!)
hold my hand while I run this race, (yes, my Lord!)
hold my hand while I run this race,
for I don't want to run this race in vain! (race in vain!)