The WORD in ADVENT - December 20, 2022
When troubles surround or challenges abound, we try to manage our lives with our own strength or seeking those who can give a solution, notwithstanding the fact that they themselves are persons with similar problems and puzzles. Fortune predictions, numerical calculations, geographical adjustments, material omens... how many substitutes we run to, instead of the Lord almighty who alone has the ultimate power!
Ahaz, in the first reading, represents that world of reducing the Lord God to our thinking, our calculations and our predictions! How many times we keep pressurising the Lord, with our clamour for signs and demands for favours, all in the name of prayers! It is in this context that Mary stands a great a model and a challenge who is remarkable in her silent acceptance of the marvels of God which are beyond any of our imagination, even at the most trying moment of our lives.
The Word today warns us of yet another danger of missing the Lord who comes to visit us: It is reducing God to our own petty thinking, our human thinking, that when God acts in history we do not even notice the wonder of God's presence. We want God in our own terms, not in God's own terms!
The antiphon of the Novena today, based on prophet Isaiah (22:22, 9:7 and 42:7), makes a reference is to the sovereignty of God's Reign. That the throne shall have no end, is a Messianic prophecy that God will be always remain the Lord of history! Liberation of the oppressed and the fullness of life of all, is the sign of this Reign. The symbol of the key to signifies the authority that God has, in creating, changing and structuring the whole history.
The prayer today is for liberation... that the Lord opens the way that leads towards fullness of life, that is the experience of the Reign on earth. It is also a commitment to work towards, to contribute one's might and mite, towards establishing the Reign here and now!