The WORD in ADVENT - Third Wednesday
December 14, 2022: Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-25; Luke 7: 19-23
The Word today indicates the proximity of the great feast of Christmas, posing the question: are you the one to come? And look at the answer given, not merely by Jesus, but also by the first reading and the responsorial psalm. Open your eyes and see!
John the Baptist who identified Jesus and proclaimed him to the people, begins to have his doubts. Maybe, he too, just like the other Jews, expected Jesus to come out with a plan and a programme drastically different - a rebellion, a revolution, a protest, a challenge to the status quo! All these were happening, but in a much different plane altogether from what everyone was trying to see!
The dumb speak, the deaf hear, the crippled walk, the sinners are forgiven, the diseased are healed, the lonely are accompanied, the poor are fed, the jobless are sustained, the weak are strengthened, the oppressed are freed, the voiceless are empowered, the least are lifted, the lost are respected... these are the signs of the coming of the Lord - signs of joy; true, inner and deep joy specially of those who are broken in spirit and fear-stricken in life.
If we pose the question to the Lord, are you the one to come, the Lord would simply say... I have already come! Are you ready to make me seen? Are you prepared to manifest me to the world in your words and attitudes, in your choices and priorities, in your criteria and discerments? It is important that you open your eyes and see... but as sons and daughters of God, we have an added duty! Apart from opening our eyes and seeing, we need to open our eyes to all the suffering and the needy, and make the Lord seen! That shall be true Christmas!