A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 10

Integrity... to see the Lord coming!

Second Tuesday in Advent

Is 40: 1-11; Mt 18: 12-14

The image that the readings today paint to us is of a Shepherd who is compassionately in search of his lost lamb! And more precisely the Gospel and the beginning of the first reading speak to us of the comfort that the Lord wants bring us. 

Like in the story that we hear of a little girl who was lost in a jungle. When it got dark the girl hid herself behind a bush and stayed there calm and composed. The father came in search of the girl and as soon as the girl spotted her father,she shouted "Daddy! I found you!" We sometimes think we are in search of God, while it is God who is in continuous search of us!

Advent is a time that reminds us of the God who comes in search of us. When we allow ourselves to be found, we stand to gain. When we keep ourselves away from God and hide behind blocks, we would miss graces and blessings that we would never get to understand. Let us not miss the most comforting place of all that the Lord has made ready for us: the bosom of the Shepherd who is constantly in search of us.  

This will happen only when we have the capacity to see the Lord coming! In spite of situations that may be called, untoward, unfortunate and undesirable, we are called to have that capacity to see the good, that is brewing. In everything the Lord works for the good of those who love God, reminds St. Paul (Rom 8:28). But we need to see it coming! Integrity is the capacity, not to let oneself be broken by anything, the capacity to remain strong and intact, the capacity to see the Lord coming!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 9

Integrity... looking up to the Lord

Second Monday in Advent

Is 35: 1-10; Lk 5: 17:20

Cheer up, the Lord told us yesterday. The call continues today to rejoice and exult, not during the days of plenty and peace but even as we find ourselves in the wilderness, in the dry lands and in the wastelands. Because, the Lord is coming! The Lord will turn our sorrow in joy, our suffering into blessing, our trials into treasures. But the question is, will I realise it when the Lord does so?

Integrity is the capacity to look up to the Lord! When good things happen we readily claim the credits for it. When things go in bad taste, we wish to shove the entire responsibility on someone else, beginning with God. The Word invites us today to look up to God, look up to the Lord from whom all good things come. Look, the Lord is coming to save us! Look up to the Lord and be radiant (Ps 34:5). 

Integrity is the ability to look up to the Lord when things go wrong, not wailing to ourselves on it. Integrity is also the ability to see when the Lord works on our behalf, not missing it all busy claiming credits to ourselves for them. Integrity is to realise that the good that I am able to do is achieved by God in and through me. It is also the ability to notice the choices and priorities within me that militates against the goodness that God is and the blessing that God wishes to send our way. 

When God changes things in our favour, when God saves us from our vale of miseries, we should be able to see it. At times we are not really aware when God does things in our favour. We do not really see the miracles that God sends our way. We are blind and deaf to the goodness that is present all around us sent by God. Integrity consists in being aware of these, because without it we will only see "strange things" (see Lk 5: 20) that the Pharisees and the Scribes saw, when the Lord was doing wonders amidst them.