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Advent is Here!
I don’t know about you, but Advent is my favorite season of the Church
year. The readings from Isaiah are always wonderful, assuring the people of
his time, the latter half of the 8th century before Christ, that
there will be a future of peace. His times, like our own, were wracked with
violence, yet Isaiah’s faith in God’s protection is strong. Though Isaiah’s
words predict a king from David’s descendents, we Christians hear in his
words a reference to Jesus whose reign brings about the reconciliation
described here. The lion and the calf, the wolf and the lamb, the leopard
and the kid, natural enemies at peace with one another!
We find it difficult to believe that
reconciliation can happen, don’t we? Don’t we often hear or find ourselves
saying about countries or individuals, “They’ve fought like this forever. It
will never be settled.” And yet… we have seen a glimpse of this miraculous
reconciliation in our time. South Africans white and black peacefully voted
for the first time in 1994, a transition from apartheid which many predicted
would only be accomplished with great bloodshed and chaos. Northern Ireland
is finally at peace with the last holdout group disarming earlier this year.
And seemingly, a movement towards justice and freedom in the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict has begun.
If countries and governments can do it, why is
it so difficult for us as individuals? Desmond Tutu’s book, No Future
Without Forgiveness gives the details of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission’s work in South Africa. He speaks of the importance of the person
who has hurt or abused someone acknowledging responsibility and offering an
apology. If he or she doesn’t do that, it is more difficult to forgive, but
not impossible. If the offense has been serious, forgiveness will probably
be a process into which God’s love for us invites us. We’ll need to grow
toward the example of Jesus who forgave those nailing him to the cross.
One way to ward off the incessant consumer push
of the season is to make your household an Advent wreath. If you want to
make one, all you need is a round plate, 3 purple candles, 1 pink, and
evergreens. You’ll want to light the candles clockwise, one each week, so
that the pink one is lit on the third Sunday of Advent. The circular wreath
and the evergreens are reminders of the endlessness of God’s love for us and
the candles for Jesus, the light of the world. Check the Catholic San
Francisco for the prayer for each week’s lighting of the wreath.If you have
questions, please see me or give me a call. Happy Advent!
Peace, S. Sheral |
