9-Dec-2007
Dear Friend,
All of us have moments of doubts, moments of nagging uncertainty and
questioning. These doubts can be about ourselves and our actions, about our
friends, about our near and dear ones and even about our God and his love for
us. Sometimes these doubts are casual but at other times these doubts can be
profound, shaking our very foundations. Sometimes we voice our doubts at other
times we let them remain within, upsetting our very being. How can we resolve
our doubts? Can we bring them all to Jesus? Have a reassuring weekend trusting
in Him. Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: Third Sunday of Advent Are you the one who is to come?
16-Dec-2007
Readings: Isaiah 35: 1-6. 10; James 5: 7-10;
Matthew 11: 2-11;
The Exodus was deeply engrained on the memory of Israel. The Israelites
surrounded my misery and despair long for a new exodus. For Isaiah in
particular, the judgement of God, the destruction of the wicked, and of joy for
the afflicted, the sick and the poor ones, reveals itself as a new Exodus
towards Zion. In the first reading the prophet Isaiah uses the image of a
desert, made fertile by rain, to portray the confident hope that God would
restore his people crushed by misfortune. The most crippling disabilities
–blindness, deafness, and lameness –will be relieved when God sends salvation
to his people. Isaiah appeals to the people: “Have courage! Do not be
unafraid!”
Unfinished Play
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American writer. When he died in 1864 he had on his
desk the outline of a play he never got a chance to finish. The play centred
around a person who never appeared on stage. Everyone talked about him.
Everyone dreamed about him. Everyone waited for his arrival. But he never came.
All kinds of minor characters described him. They told everybody what he would
do. But the main character never appeared. –The Old Testament is something like
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s play. It too ended without the main character putting in
an appearance. Everyone talked about the Messiah, everyone awaited his
arrival. But he never came. In today’s reading we hear Isaiah describe what the
Messiah would do. We are called to believe that He will come and fulfill his
promise of bringing salvation to us and to all mankind.
Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’
The second reading from James talks of the Second Coming of Jesus. He urges the
kind of patience and hope farmers show in waiting for the harvest, and which
the prophets of old showed as they waited for the promises to be fulfilled. It
is a patience that does not lose hope, no matter how hard the situation; a
patience that is strong and yet at the same time gentle. It is a patience that
is not passive but active. It is a patience that manifests quiet, every day
sort of strength. In the meanwhile we cry out with today’s response psalm:
“Lord come and save us!”
Practicing Patience
“One moment of patience may ward off great distaste, one moment of impatience
may ruin a whole life.” (Chinese Proverb)
There is a story of a man who prayed earnestly for grace to overcome his
besetting sin of impatience. A little later he missed the train by half a
minute and spent half an hour stamping up and down the platform in furious
vexation. Five minutes before the next train came in he suddenly realized that
there had been an answer to his prayer. He had been given an hour to practice
the virtue of patience, he had missed the opportunity and wasted the hour.
Bernard Hodgson in ‘Quotes and Anecdotes’
In today’s reading of Matthew’s Gospel, John the Baptist has his doubts about
the identity of Jesus and so we hear him questioning Jesus through his
disciples. “Are you the Messiah, the one who is to come?” John’s situation was
a grim one as he was locked up in a dark dungeon with the threat of death
hanging over him. His faith was being seriously tested. He needed reassurance
and comforting. John had been preparing the people for the coming of the
Messiah. John’s idea of the Messiah was that of a stern, uncompromising judge.
But Jesus was not living up to that image, instead he was acting like a savior.
His radiant friendliness contrasted sharply with the severity of John. John
was an ascetic, who lived apart from the people, Jesus on the other hand freely
mixed with people and ate and drank with sinners. John prophesized judgement,
while Jesus prophesized salvation. John was confused and wanted to know for
sure, so he sent two of his
disciples to question Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come?” Jesus might
have replied with a straight forward yes, but that would have got him into
trouble with the authorities. Neither could he deny that he was the Messiah,
for that would be lying. Instead, he chose to point out the answer through his
actions. His actions were exactly the kind Isaiah had predicted for the
Messianic times. Jesus was happy to let his actions speak for themselves.
Dying in Darkness
The great astronomer, Galileo, was born near Florence, in the year 1564. He
confirmed what Copernicus had said, namely, that the earth goes round the sun,
and not vice versa. His discoveries greatly enlarged our knowledge of the
universe. Yet he spent his last years in darkness. When summoned before the
inquisition he wrote: ‘Alas, poor Galileo, your devoted servant, totally and
incurably blind; so that this heaven, this earth, this universe, which by my
observations and demonstrations, I have enlarged a thousand fold beyond their
previous limits, are now shriveled for me into such a narrow compass as is
filled by my own bodily sensations.’ –Galileo reminds us of John the Baptist.
Like Galileo he ushered in a new age –the age of Jesus. And like Galileo he
died in darkness.
Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’
"Today we find John the Baptist shut in a prison – full of shadows and
forebodings. The Messiah whom he believed he recognized does not behave like a
sovereign judge. Nor does he act as the unrelenting executor of God’s judgement
against sinners. Confused and helpless, John sends to Jesus to enquire: “Are
you really the Messiah whom we await – you who are non-violent, forbearing and
forgiving? This question echoes down the centuries and challenges us today more
than ever, faced as we are with God’s silence and passivity before our own
dechristianized society. We expect answers from the gospel, but instead the
gospel seems to pose us further questions! Where we expected to find ready-made
solutions, we find instead an invitation to formulate our own. We expect to
find miracles only to find the gospel following nature’s process of slow
germination. We find it difficult to admit that Christianity is a matter of
liberty and love –hence a matter
of faith and risk. Like John, we need to enter into our spirit and recognize
the real face of God in the countenance of Jesus Christ –the humble and
merciful deliverer.” - Glenstal Sunday Missal
In the second part of the gospel Jesus speaks about John the Baptist praising
him as the greatest of the prophets. Jesus paid handsome tributes to John
calling him a strong personality and an unbending man of principles. John did
not go in for showmanship and did not live a life of comfort and ease. He was
single minded in his purpose and devoted his life totally to his mission, which
was to prepare the way for Jesus. When his task was done, he moved aside to
make way for Jesus. That took greatness. John’s lifestyle as well as his
personal integrity, lent credence to his words. He was a living example of what
he preached. We can draw inspiration from John’s life. Despite extolling John
to the heavens Jesus said that the least in the kingdom of God was greater than
John. Why? Because John, great though he was, did not fully comprehend Jesus.
John preached a God of divine retribution; Jesus preached a God of divine love.
John had his doubts and was
confused as to the identity of Jesus. “Are you the one who is to come, the
Messiah?” was the question troubling him as he lay in the darkness of his
dungeon.
Faithful Witness To The Truth
Henry David Thoreau was an American who authored the renowned essay ‘Civil
Disobedience’. He championed the freedom of the individual over the law of the
land. He distinguished between ‘law’ and ‘right’. He wrote: “What the majority
passes is the ‘law’ and what the individual conscience sees is the ‘right’, and
what matters most is the ‘right’ not the ‘law’.” Once Thoreau was imprisoned
for a night for his refusal to pay poll-tax as a protest against the
government’s support of slavery and its unjust war against Mexico presumably in
support of slave trade intentions. When he was arrested, he hoped that some of
his friends would follow his example and fill the jails, and in this way
persuade the government to change its stance on the issue of slavery. In this
he was disappointed. Not only did his friends not join him, one friend paid the
tax on his behalf and got him released the very next day. When he was in the
prison
Emerson, another American writer came to visit him. He said to Thoreau:
“Thoreau, why are you inside?” And Thoreau replied, “Emerson, Emerson, why are
you outside?” Thoreau was a great lover of the truth. He suffered because he
spoke the truth and stood for the truth. Emerson said in his obituary of
Thoreau, “He was a great speaker and actor of truth.” –John the Baptist too
spoke and stood for the truth against the king and paid for it by sacrificing
his life.
John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’
Key Question
Some critics acclaim Shakespeare’s Hamlet as the greatest play of the modern
world. In this tragedy Hamlet is the prince of Denmark who learns from his
father’s ghost that he was murdered by his own brother Claudius, so that
Claudius could take his place as king and marry Hamlet’s mother. Intent on
avenging his father’s assassination, Hamlet ponders what he should do in a
soliloquy: ‘To be or not to be: that’s the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the
mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms
against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?’ Hamlet’s perplexing
question has become a Shakespearean classic. Scripture too poses some key
questions about the mysteries of life, and today’s gospel gives us a good
example. John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask the question:
“Are you the one who is to come, or do we look for another?” This is by no
means a casual question of identity, but
a critical question whose answer affects our entire destiny. As such it is a
timeless question, a contemporary question, an ultimate question.
Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’
May our moments of doubt lead us to a deeper trust in God!!
Fr. Jude Botelho
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been
collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and
from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever
possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you
could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in
these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site
www.netforlife.net Thank you.
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