There’s something compelling about a promise. When you promise something to someone, you’re giving part of yourself. When someone you trust promises that they will come through for you, you don’t feel alone. Your friend is promising you their presence. The Bible is filled with God’s promises to us. What does God promise? Not wealth or success or a life free from suffering. He promises us a person.
The first reading today from the book of Isaiah brings that out. “The days are coming says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made... I will raise up for David a just shoot; he will do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe...” God is promising us His personal presence that we can see and touch. In the gospel, we see the fulfillment of God’s promise in a person, Jesus Christ. Jesus is God among us. God has come through for us. God is with us. Do I really believe this?
Sometimes our hearts can get drowsy. Jesus warns us about this in the gospel today. When our hearts grow drowsy we lose sight of the promise. We can get caught up in paying bills, the PTA meetings, sporting events, traffic jams, and forget God’s promise. We can lose sight of the fact that being a Catholic means a living relationship with a person, Jesus Christ, who fills our hearts with joy. That’s why the Church gives us Advent. Advent is a gentle wake-up call, a 4-week period to prepare our heart for Christmas. It’s a time to believe in God’s promise to give us true purpose and joy in Jesus Christ.
In his book Rediscovering Catholicism, Matthew Kelly tells a story about an American priest who visited China. He went incognito, and no one knew he was a priest. On his second night there, he heard some noises in the middle of the night and asked his host what was going on. He replied: “We’re going to the Wall.”
Intrigued, the priest went with him and about 20 other people. As they walked in the darkness, the crowd swelled to over 100 people.
Eventually they came to a clearing in a forest, and in the middle was a small wall. As the group came close to the wall they knelt down. Out of a nook in the wall, one of the men took a tiny monstrance holding the Eucharist, and the people spent time in adoration. The next day, the American told them he was a priest. They had not had Mass in 10 years, but several times a week they would go to the wall at night and risk their lives to spend time with Jesus in the Eucharist. That night he celebrated Mass for them. God promises us a person. Jesus Christ is that person, really present in our lives. These people in China recognized that.
How can I come to believe God’s promise more deeply? How can I discover that His promise is a person? Get to know Jesus. Remember, He already knows you and He wants you to know Him more deeply. What’s our part? Here is a challenge for this first week of Advent. Pick one way that I can get to know Jesus better this week and follow through with it. Maybe tell your spouse or a friend about it and review it together at the end of the week. Here are a couple of options that might help.
PRAY – EVERY DAY. Just 15 minutes. But every day.
What about DAILY MASS? At Mass we receive the Eucharist, the real presence of Jesus. There’s no better way to get to know him.
CONFESSION: Confession is a celebration of God’s merciful love – let’s make the most of it!
The promise of God is coming to us. Let us ask Jesus to help us to pick one way to know Him better this week, and to commit to it.
Comments
There are no comments yet - be the first one to comment: