2nd Sunday of Advent
Comfort my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her …her guilt is expiated. Isaiah encourages the people in exile to quiet their cries of personal and collective guilt and shame. Their hearts were filled with failure and fear, preventing them from hearing words of comfort: Here is your God!
Today, we are overwhelmed by what is happening around us. We see the violence in our streets and the wars that are plaguing our world. We experience the roughness of human relationships broken through neglect, prejudice, or greed. We climb the hills and mountains of competing ideologies and political divisions that make communication difficult. So, we are filled with fear and failure, guilt, and shame. We strain to hear the tender voice of God offering us comfort and healing.
Perhaps rather than focusing on our guilt and shame for failures, we would be better off focusing on the Lord present in our midst now. Perhaps our prayer should be that of the Psalm. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation. Advent is when we become quiet and allow the Lord to smooth the roughness in our lives and fill in the emptiness with his peace and joy. The challenge is to allow the Lord to work in our hearts to change us rather than thinking we can do this on our own.
As we go through these busy weeks of preparation and anticipation of the celebration of Christmas, may we consciously find moments of stillness and peace to allow the Lord to do his work in us. May we allow our Eucharistic celebrations to be moments filled with the Lord’s peace and presence.
How can I be still today?
Let us pray:
Loving God, we thank you for your presence in our lives, speaking words of comfort and hope as we navigate the issues that face us as individuals and as a community. We ask that we find time and space in this busy season to allow your Spirit to fill our hearts with peace and trust that we are never alone but always held in your loving embrace. Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
