Enter the gates - if you are founded on the Rock

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 2, 2021: First Thursday in Advent

Isaiah 26: 1-6; Matthew 7: 21, 24-27

There are two words that link the first reading and the Gospel, and they are the key to understand the message of the Word today.  The two words are: to enter, and the Rock!

To enter the gates, to dwell in the house of the Lord, to inherit the Reign of God - that is our destiny. All that we do here on earth and all that we wish to accomplish with our lives, however short or limited they may be, is to prepare ourselves to enter into that eternal communion with the Lord; nothing else matters more! The desire to enter and the dream to enter is expressed in the first reading while the Gospel explains how! How to enter those gates, those gates which are narrow but ever open! How to enter them? 

Being founded on the Lord, our Rock, is the only way to enter those gates, not merely crying out Lord, Lord. Our so called prayers become empty words if we do not have a lasting relationship built with the Lord. When we have a loving and passionate relationship with the Lord, every thing we say or do, becomes a prayer; even a simple sigh becomes an extraordinary communication with the Lord, because we are founded on the communion with the Lord! Calling out 'Lord, Lord' may not be needed, because we shall feel the Lord ever present and so near! 

This is the simple and strong message that the Word gives us today, as a directive for advent preparation: Trust in the Lord your Rock, listen to the Lord and do what the Lord wants you to do, and you shall find yourself in front of those gates, the beautiful and brilliant gates of heaven, which shall be opened to you by the Lord your Rock!