“The Days of Hope are Coming” by Phil Russell

“The Days of Hope are Coming” by Phil Russell

First Sunday of Advent

Piety

The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: “The LORD our justice.”  Jeremiah 33:14-16

Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13

“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36

Study
Last Sunday on The Feast of Christ the King, the old year went out with a “Bang!” TRUTH!

This week, this New Liturgical Year...we “Come in With A BOOM!”  The TRUTH…it’s Imperative. JESUS, The Teacher, speaks to us in the “Imperative.”  Disciples. Witnesses. His “Beloved!”

First, the prophet Jeremiah foretells: “In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot...The Lord our justice.” Then, St. Paul reinforces that message centuries later to the people in Thessalonika praying that “the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another.”

Action
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxiety of daily life.......Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have strength....to stand before the Son of Man.”

So, here we stand on this First Sunday of Advent 2018. JESUS “said to His disciples.” (US)......it’s a teaching moment (Beloved)…so as I read, ponder and pray these words in today’s Scriptures; at first, I find them disturbing. But then, as I sit and let the Spirit wash over me…it’s not at all disturbing. You see, as the disciple today, I am just a loved as any of these sitting with him, in that moment.

Here is Jesus, this Teacher; this Just Shoot (The VINE) calling me (us) to task.

Jesus, speaking in the imperative. 

I am taken back to those days in grammar school. 4th thru 8th grades. Sisters Matrona, Barbara, Georgiana and Nadia, each taught with authority; Grammar. We learned the “imperative”. These women in my childhood and formative years of learning brought me to this Advent 2018; I have a much better understanding of what JESUS, is “teaching” me. In the imperative. It is out of his deep and abiding love, that I am called to be grafted into this “shoot of David,” this “Just One!”

In the very same way as I sat and learned from these women at Saint John the Baptist Parochial School: so today, I sit before Jesus, the Teacher. As they challenged me; so too, Jesus. “Beware. Do not become drowsy. Do not be caught by surprise. Be vigilant. Pray. Stand ”before The Son of Man. The Lord our Justice."

It is Imperative!

Stand Up(rightly) in HOPE, this Day!

There is a song that plays on my internal Jukebox today.

“No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging
Since Christ the Lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?

Though all the tumult and the strife,
I hear the music ringing
It finds an echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?

The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart
A fountain ever springing
For all things are mine since I am his
How can I keep from singing?

Faith. Hope. Love.

It’s IMPERATIVE.

Stand Up(right) in HOPE, this Day — this First Sunday of Advent.