Advent : To come
Broken and poor
Stripped and barren
We come
Broken by disappointment
Impoverished for pride
Stripped with humility
Barren of hope
We come
--
I haven’t read the book of Job in over a year but if I’m honest, it feels like life’s been a lot like Job’s these days. Now, there are many role models we might yearn to emulate from the Bible; I cant’ say Job has ever made my top 10 list. I say that with all due respect as it actually has little to do with Job. The lot of his existence is plagued with suffering, stripping, and difficult trials that if he had endured just one round of trial, people would understand how it might cause a strong man to doubt and crumble. Yet, he is struck with the perfect storm and is barraged with trial.
Tuesday’s With Morrie has been on my book shelf for years and in it a dying professor gives one last seminar to a young student on the Meaning of Life, taught from experience. During one of their weekly classes, the student poses the question about Job. “Job is a good man, but God makes him suffer. To test his faith. Takes away everything he has, his house, his money, his family, his health. “ Mitch, the student, asks Morrie, “What do you think about that?” “I think”, [Morrie] says smiling, “God overdid it.”
It’s important to remember, when we are in between the throws of accepting difficulty, that it is okay to find humor. Not as a defense mechanism but as a means to lighten the load and to express truth that sometimes it’s too much to bear. Whether we can rejoice in suffering and see the good joy God gives in the midst of the crucifixion or whether we question the meaning of the trials in our lives, God doesn’t ask us to wait to come to Him. He doesn’t ask us to come pretty, wrapped with a bow, and perfect. He doesn’t ask us to wait until we have it all together, all figured out, or even for when we have faith.He calls us to come so that we might know He comes.
He is the light in the darkness and Advent is a call to sit to prepare our hearts so that we might know He is near. Whether you are signing along and decking the halls or if you are just not feeling “Christmasy”, we are all called to remember the call of Advent - to sit and witness again the Truth that the Light has come into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Let us proclaim Christ’s birth and see His presence anew each time we meet Him in the Eucharist and in one another. Let us sing as the Angles sing all glory and praise for His presence through all seasons. Let us ring out the Truth that blessed is she who believed the Word would be fulfilled.
Lord, we thank you for the gift of Bl. Pier Giorgio and Bl. John Paul II’s lives as they were pillars of light. Let us emulate them and ask that they intercede so that we might more joyfully proclaim the true meaning of Christmas.
Verso l’alto,
Kathryn
I find meaning so I'm holding on
O to grace how great a debtor, Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let’s remember to pray for those whom Christmas is difficult, who “don’t feel Christmas at all”. Let us be lights.
No comments:
Post a Comment