The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, December 4, 2001
The First Week of Advent
St. John Damascene
Read more: http://www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1,7-8,12-13
Luke 10 21-24
Full text: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm
A Reflection on Today's Scripture:
A Spirit of Insight and Counsel
A shoot springs from the stalk of Jesse. With those words we are on
our way into the Advent Journey. These first two weeks, we
traditionally look back to the time when the world was expecting the
first appearance of our Lord.
It is good to think back to the time of the world before they fully
knew the Glory of God. Of course, the people of Israel always had
some understanding of God's magnificence. They knew of the Holy of
Holies and the Seat of the Presence. They had seen the pillar of fire
and the pillar of smoke. They knew from their fathers something of
God. But no one had been able to look upon His Face. Even one of His
most favored, Moses, was warned not to look upon His Face because
Moses would die.
So they did not know Him in His fullness. And more often than not,
they forgot what they did know of Him. This was a time of sacrifices
to idols. We think of Roman time as fairly civilized, and in relative
terms, it was. But human sacrifice was not unheard of, and in some
cases was positively approved. And before the time of Jesus things
were even bleaker. People handed their children over to priests to be
sacrificed; prisoners were routinely sacrificed. Human life was
cheap, and deep darkness filled the world, especially when Israel
abandoned what they knew of God.
This was the time before Jesus. And we are looking with the People of
Israel to the bright dawn that will come -- the shoot of the Stalk of
Jesse. We are looking to the person with a spirit of Wisdom and
Counsel. We are looking for the advent of Him who is the promised of
ages. We await the Lord.
- JuandelaCruz, TOC
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