WORD 2day: 20th December, 2013

Danger of missing the Lord who comes #5:

When troubles surround or challenges abound, we try to manage our lives with our own strength or seeking those who can give a solution, notwithstanding the fact that they themselves are persons with similar problems and puzzles. Fortune predictions, numerical calculations, geographical adjustments, material omens... how many substitutes we run to, instead of the Lord almighty who alone has the ultimate power! Ahaz represents that world of reducing the Lord God to our thinking, our calculations and our predictions! But Mary stands a model for a silent acceptance of the marvels of God which are beyond any of our imagination, even at the most trying moment of our lives. 

The readings today warn us of the fifth danger of missing the Lord who comes to visit us: Reducing God to human thinking, that when God acts in history we do not even notice the wonder of God's presence.

Novena... Day 5... O Key of David...

20th December: O Key of David

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;

you open and no one can shut;

you shut and no one can open:

Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,

those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Based on  Isaiah 22:22, Isaiah 9:7 and Isaiah 42:7, the reference is to the sovereignty of God's Reign. That the throne shall have no end is a Messianic prophecy that, God will be established the Lord of history! Liberation of the oppressed, the fullness of life of all, is the sign of the Reign.

The symbol is the key to signify the authority that the Lord has, in creating, changing and structuring the whole history.

The prayer is for liberation... to be led towards fullness of life that is the experience of the Reign on earth. It is also a commitment to work towards, to contribute one's might and mite, towards establishing the Reign here and now!