Begin, Believe and Be!
3rd December, 2017: First Sunday in Advent
Is 63:16-17, 64:1,3-8; 1Cor 1:3-9; Mk 13:33-37
Happy New Year... Let's begin anew! Begin, Believe and Be...a project that is given to us... a journey towards Integrity!
We are beginning a new liturgical year, we are beginning anew a season of waiting, a season of renewal and the call this year for the advent is to undertake a Journey to Integrity! This call and this journey is an ever present challenge to us as children of the One Father, as disciples of Christ and as Spirit filled people.
Look at the world today: people think they can do anything they want and get away with it, provided they have the means for it. Money and muscle power still seem to rule. Politics is dubbed politricks and democracy is without exaggeration turning into demoncracy, a rule of the demoniacs who are worse than even the worst of the totalitarians in history. Everybody is thrilled about having a conspiracy theory to share and nothing seems to be really what it apparently is! There are so many things that are working underground and people are made to feel so insecure about everything. No more is being right a big issue, all that matters is not getting caught! This is the background against which we are beginning a new season, a new year, a new journey!
And our journey is meant to be towards Integrity! Integrity...is being right for the sake of being right, being just for the sake of being just, being good for the sake of being good. There are no awards announced, there are no rewards promised nor are there any felicitations in place! The Word today tells us that in a very subtle way as it commands us to Begin, to Believe and to Be!
Let us begin anew! Yes we have fallen, failed, faltered...it does matter. It is important to know and accept that we have made those mistakes and then begin anew! We are beginning a journey today, anew yes, but not anything strange. We have been on this journey, we have travelled quite a distance. But the call is to begin anew. We know that God is our Father, our Shepherd, our Redeemer, our Potter...we know, but may be, we have strayed a bit. Let us begin anew! Start afresh! The Lord is present, right there, when I decide to begin anew!
Let us believe in the Lord! Jesus has come to reiterate it firmly, that God is our Father and our Redeemer. Whatever happens, God is faithful and God is certainly there to take care of us. We cannot miss that assurance that is given to us! If integrity begins in beginning anew, it makes sense because God is faithful. Our goodness and our faithfulness cannot have any meaning unless we base it on the faithfulness of God. We strive to be faithful because God is faithful. We wish to be good because God is good. We love because God first loved us. My journey to integrity is possible because I believe.
Let us be people of God! The Spirit filled people are people who are aware, awake and alert all the time. Yes, we are called to be awake and alert, always being what we ought to be, never slackening our pace in this journey towards integrity. Let us begin this journey today, march everyday with a firm belief in the presence of God and be the people that God wants us to be!
Let us begin, believe and be! Happy Journey to Integrity!