Yes, He Is Coming by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)
Piety
Thus, says the Lord GOD: Lo, I am sending my messenger to
prepare the way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD
whom you seek, And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is
coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the
refiner's fire, or like the fuller's lye. He will sit refining and
purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold
or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD. Malachi 3:1-4
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in
reply, "No. He will be called John." But they answered her, "There
is no one among your relatives who has this name." So, they made signs,
asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and
wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth
was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Luke 1:59-64
Study
Yesterday, on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we read in Matthew's Gospel
about Joseph and his decision to divorce the pregnant Mary. An angel comes to
Joseph: “Do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife into your home. For it is
through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”
Luke's Gospel is our guide this week. Today we read about the naming
of John by Zechariah. Tuesday, during the day, has Zechariah's prayer of praise
after being allowed to speak again. The scenes and canticles, or songs, which
are part of the story, are so well known to us that we can miss hearing them
with an open heart.
Joseph's dream sets up this week. Sometimes dreams are prompted by impressions and “residues”
of the previous day that we take into our sleep. Thus, Joseph’s dream consisted
of his waking, conscious desire to protect Mary, preserve his honor and resolve
the dilemma of Mary’s pregnancy by divorcing her quietly. God used Joseph’s
dream to instruct him through the angel who told him what to do.
Joseph went to bed that night, not after a heated argument
of denouncing Mary or pronouncing to everybody what he intended to do with the
outrage of her unexplained pregnancy. Joseph never even speaks. Character amid
confusion, he kept his calm.
A monk said that sometimes there would be a rush of noisy
visitors who shatter the silence of the monastery. This situation upsets some
of the monks, but not the Master, who seemed just as contented with the noise
as with the Silence.
To his protesting disciples, he said one day, "Silence
is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self."
Joseph’s example tells us to wait on God when things don’t
make sense. In the waiting rooms of life, we discover what we believe about
God.
Our Readings that started the Fourth Week of Advent on Sunday
made a deliberate comparison between Ahaz and Joseph through their respective
“annunciations.” There is a little bit (to a lot) of Ahaz in each of us.
There was once a one-legged dragon who said to the centipede,
“How do you manage all those legs? I have to do all that I can to manage one
leg.” “To tell you the truth,” said the centipede, “I do not manage them at
all.”
Joseph accepted what God had in store for him and moved
forward in faith. Joseph had previously made up his mind to divorce Mary
quietly, but he changed his plans after the angel visited him in his dream.
In contrast, King Ahaz tries to solve his problems by
himself without God’s help. So, in Sunday’s First Reading, the king has gone
out to observe how to secure the city’s water supply in case of a siege. This
situation offers the Prophet Isaiah the perfect opportunity to challenge the
king to consider what he is doing to secure his kingdom’s relationship with
God.
Isaiah says, pick any sign at all that will convince you of
God’s love and protection over the city. That is even a better offer than a
dream because the solution offered here is happening during waking moments and
not during dreaming moments!
Isaiah wants the king to trust that the attack he so much
fears will never materialize. Surprisingly, the king refuses the invitation to
trust.
The king already has his plans in place and feels that
asking for a sign from God will be an imposition. But the king is making
everybody tired and weary with his fears and alarms.
Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen once said, “All worry is
atheism because it is a lack of trust in God.” Why is worry a form of atheism?
Because it stems from a focus on earthly things, one’s security and
self-protection. Worry is rooted in a self-centered life.
The same sign God gives to Ahaz and Joseph is the sign God gives
to you and me. "The virgin has conceived and has given birth to a Son. And
He is Immanuel. God with us." His name is Jesus.
Action
These final days of Advent may be among the most challenging
weeks of the entire Liturgical Year to be reflective. Starting last weekend and
continuing through Wednesday and beyond, our schedules are pretty full.
Some of us have guests staying with us and a house to clean
this week. Others will be reliving memories and struggling, even a little, with
being alone – some for the first holiday without a loved one.
Even though this may be a hectic week, with final Christmas
preparations, or perhaps travel, it also can be a contemplative week if we
focus on our desires.
No matter what our days hold, we can take a few minutes to
consciously ask for the grace to approach Christmas with faith and with a heart
open to the blessings offered to us.
“Lord, help me today to stay focused on your coming in the
flesh to be with us. While I'm busy with this or that, I ask your help. Keep
reminding me throughout this day about Mary's acceptance of your plan for her,
about the poverty into which Jesus was born.”
How often do we listen to God and allow God to speak to us?
The two reactions between Joseph and King Ahaz to God,
helping show that we may wrestle with the different ways God’s love is seeking
to save us and empower us amid our struggles and challenges.
Joseph shows us that the path through problems does not lie in
a bottle or tobacco. It is, first of all, found in following God’s law and being
open to any new initiative God might be attempting in us, and whether we listen
to our intuitive side, our dreams.
In Ignatian Spirituality, God’s deepest desires for us are
our own deepest desires. A Jesuit priest wrote:
Sometimes in Jesuit life, you might
find yourself lacking the desire for something that you want to desire. Let’s
say you are living in a comfortable Jesuit community and have scant contact
with the poor. You may say, “I know I’m supposed to want to live simply and
work with the poor, but I have no desire to do this.” Or perhaps you know that
you should want to be more generous, more loving, more forgiving, but don’t
desire it. How can you pray for that with honesty?
In reply, Ignatius would ask, “Do you have the desire for
this desire?” Even if you don’t want it, do you want to want it? Do you wish
that you were the kind of person that wanted this? Yet this can be seen as an
invitation from God. It is a way of glimpsing God’s invitation even in the
faintest traces of desire. Amen.
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