THE WORD IN ADVENT
December 5, 2020: First Saturday of Advent
Isaiah 30: 19-21, 23, 26; Matthew 9: 35 - 10:1, 5a, 6-8
Life, food, water, protection, healing, assurance, sustenance, love and care...these are given to us gratuitously by God. All these are gifts that we have received, whether we acknowledge it or not. The greatest of all and the gift beyond all these is God's continual presence with us. More precisely, the fundamental gift of all is the presence!
God's presence is manifested to us in various ways: as providing presence that fulfills our needs; protecting presence that safeguards us from dangers; probing presence that challenges us on our life's journey; and above all, guiding presence that accompanies us on a constant basis. The last of these, is a bit different presence because, all others will be taken care of by God, even if we are mere passive receivers. But the accompanying presence of the Lord can be experienced only if we actively acknowledge, accept and allow the Lord to act on our behalf.
A second challenge that we have is, as persons who have experienced that presence, the call we have to become that presence for the others...the accompanying presence of the Lord. We give it when people need it, we dont force ourselves on them. We give it even when it means that we sacrifice much of our time, energy and attention. We give it when others need, not when we feel like! We give without looking for anything in return...just being there for the other!
Advent is a spiritual exercise precisely to grow in our capacity to become aware of this accompanying presence of God with us, and become one such for others! Personally, it is a moment when we learn to see, practice to understand and be prepared to allow God to have God's way in our life. Are we on that journey?