THE WORD IN ADVENT
Second Thursday in Advent - December 11, 2025
Isaiah 41: 13-20; Matthew 11: 11-15
Daring to behold the Reign is, almost always, interpreted in terms of power and capability to transform. Indeed it is, but the power and the capacity here comes from a very strange source - from our simplicity and the recognizance of it... that is the real rule of the Reign.
Jacob the worm, Israel the dust... they are not phrases that demean the dignity or identity of those who belong to the Lord, but a reminded or who we really are in comparison to the might and majesty of the Lord. It is precisely this might and power that renders us powerful and capable in the presence of the Lord.
Jesus described this in terms of John the Baptist, who seemed powerful and tremendous in the sight of the people. Even he is null in front of the simplicity of the Reign, says Jesus, declaring the fact that the real strength of the Reign comes from the One and only Strong: the Lord of the Reign.
We may be weak or simple, but we are reminded that the right hand of God is stretched out to us and our help comes from the Lord. The first reading repeats that and similar phrases - I will help you, I will answer you, I will hold you, I will not abandon you... these are the assurances and the promises that make Simplicity, the rule of the Reign.
The fact to be underlined here is - the simple shall be ruled by the Reign and the simple shall be the rulers of the Reign... they are the signs of the Majesty of the Lord among us, and Simplicty shall be the rule of the Reign.