Reading 1 is 40:1-5, 9-11
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!
Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm;
here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
Commentary below is Father Robert Barron’s Advent Reflection, day 7, 2014
Advent Day 7 – Love Both Gentle and Fierce
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| What does God’s love look like in a world gone wrong? During Advent we prepare for the Incarnation, when Jesus reveals a God who is nothing but love. But this enfleshment takes place in the midst of a fallen, sinful world. Therefore, it will naturally appear threatening, strange, or off-putting.Consider when you are in a particularly grouchy mood, when things are not going well. Who is the most obnoxious person to have around? Someone who is in a good mood. There is no one more annoying to a grouch than the sunny optimist.If you have been stuck for two weeks in the depths of a cave, what would be most tortuous to you? Light.If you have been swinging a golf club incorrectly for many years, who is most painful to you? The teacher who compels you to change everything you’ve known and to swing in a new way. The world, on the biblical reading, is a dysfunctional family. As G.K. Chesterton put it, “We’re all in the same boat, and we’re all seasick.” Therefore in light of this disorder, when Jesus comes, he necessarily comes as a trouble-maker, as a breaker of the peace. It’s helpful to remember during Advent that there is no contradiction between God’s gentleness and God’s fierceness: they are both expressions of his love. They both emerge when love breaks into our dysfunctional world and sets it right, which is precisely what commences at Christmas. Please respect the nature and intent of this post. If you are not Christian, pass by, no comment necessary. Absolutely no tolerance will be given to any political or off topic posts. Future posts will be closed to comments or eliminated if we can’t all be respectful. Thank you, Menagerie |
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