WISDOM - the Promise of the Reign

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Third Wednesday in Advent - December 17, 2025

Genesis 49: 2, 8-10; Matthew 1: 1-17

The joy of the Reign consists in the unfailing promise of God, the eternal faithfulness of God - the Sacrament of this promise is the Wisdom that comes as a fulfilment of the promise to the generations... Jesus Christ who comes in our midst, as one among us, born in the lineage of the humans to save the entire humanity, beyond any lineage or generation! 

Wisdom of the Most High, who comes to teach us the way of truth is the eternal promise of God. The Reign is this promise made concrete... it may look utopian or too ideal to be true, but it is the test of truth that we have; the proof of our faith; the exercise of our hope. It is the promise of God, that God will never leave or abandon us, especially when the times get rough or tough. 

The Genealogy presented in the Gospel passage today, leaves us wondering whether it can really be true - the continuity that is observed here. But that is not the message! The message is - what is happening is the fulfilment of the word of the Lord, the Wisdom that alone can save humanity was promised at the beginning and it is here, very close to us, right amidst us. 

The moment we accept the sovereignty of Wisdom, and acknowledge the presence at work amidst us, we shall experience the joy of the Reign... the salvific experience of the God with us. Wisdom is the way of truth, and we are given with the possibility of accessing it - that is already a great sign of hope, a great promise of the Reign. 

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 2 : O Wisdom!

Day 2 - December 17: O Sapientia...

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High

reaching from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Based on Isaiah 11:2-3 and Isaiah 28:29... the antiphon recalls the most popular attribute given to the Spirit of the Lord and the Word of God which is seen active in creation and order of the universe. It is this Word, who becomes flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14).

The Symbol used is often...the eye within the triangle, which symbolises the Omniscient God...the Wisdom of God. The Jewish or the Davidic lampstand (with 7 sticks) is used to refer to the Wisdom of God which has accompanied the people of God right from the origins of history!

Wisdom, we know is slightly different from knowledge and could be even considered a level higher, because even a person who lack the so-called knowledge may possess the finest wisdom, while a person with all possible knowledge may prove miserably unwise! Wisdom would be that capacity to not just know, but to use what we know at the right moment in the apt manner. In our daily decision-making it amounts to actually, prudence!

The Prayer today is for PRUDENCE... to be guided always by the Lord, the Lord who dwells among us.

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - a tradition so lovely

Day 1: December 16

Novena...'O' Antiphons...Oh what a Tradition we have!!! 

Naturally the last days of the Christmas preparation are a great excitement...

The Church has a beautiful tradition of
the Novena in preparation of this wonderful festival of LOVE...

And within this novena...
leaving out the first day and the last day...
there are 7 verses from the prophecies from the Old Testament (Isaiah)
which announce the coming of the Lord's Messiah...they are named "O" Antiphons.
each of these antiphons, so meaningful and beautiful...

We pray them as Antiphons before the Gospel at the Eucharist these days...
those who pray the daily prayer of the Church (Breviary) pray it in the evening
with the hymn of our blessed mother, the Magnificat.

16th of December begins the Novena...
on this day, the antiphon, though not an O Antiphon...
sets the tone for the next 9 days...

WE BEGIN A SPECIAL SEASON OF WAITING FOR AN IMMINENT COMING OF THE LORD

The Choice for the Reign: Internal and Integral

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Third Tuesday in Advent - December 16, 2025

Zephaniah 3: 1-2,9-13; Matthew 21: 28-32

The Joy of the Reign is a choice to be made, the Word told us yesterday. Today, the reflection continues to establish and impress on our minds that this choice has to be necessarily internal and integral! Internal, because no amount of external appearance can manage to delude God to conviction; Integral, because a choice one makes has to remain coherent with his or her entire life! 

Zephaniah speaks about the famous inversive logic of God - the haughty shall be no more, the humble shall find their voice, the remnants of Israel shall begin to shine and the suffering servant shall rise in glory. It is an apt manifestation of the presence of God - for in that presence, there are no rich and the poor, the oppressed and the oppressors, the powerful and the simple... they are all reconciled in Christ - in the Reign. 

However, that requires a choice, a choice made for God... and that choice as we have already said, has to be internal and integral. It cannot be a choice out of force, fear or some sort of luring with the fortune. It comes from an internal choice, that does not care about what others think or say, how they judge or what they comment. It does not even count whether there will be a blessing as a consequence of my choice. The Choice has to be drastically internal, personal guided by a sense of clarity and dare. 

The choice thus made, has to be integral, because it cannot be conditional or provisional, nor can it be  partial. It cannot be changed when conditions change nor can it be true for some parts and not applicable for the others. The choice has to affect my entire life. I cannot go by convenience, comfort or compliance. It has to be a convinced, radical choice which I am prepared to carry out come what may. That is the reason Jesus declared, one who puts his hand to the plough but turns back, cannot inherit the Reign of God.