Ignatian
Spirituality: Set the World Ablaze
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Second Sunday of Advent
December 7, 2014
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Psalm 85; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8
The readings of
Advent deepen this week as we contemplate what God is initiating for us in
anticipation for our Lord’s arrival. All good things in our life start with our
metanoia - our change of heart, our
change of attitude. We are given this sacred time to figure out who we are as
we stand before God and then to conform our ways to match the way God wants us
to be. We urge patience with ourselves as fundamental changes gradually take
place over time and the world aligns with our new insights and discoveries.
The Israelites
that have been exiled to Babylon for many years are finally told God is
forgiving them. Their punishment is ended and they can come home to God’s
embrace. They have sufficiently recognized the error of their ways and
conformed their behavior to include God’s presence as a central reality in
their lives. They can come home and God says that Isaiah the prophet must speak
forgiving words tenderly to them so they know it is true. To anyone who is
sufficiently blanketed by their guilt, the only words that will coax one out of
isolating shame are words of tenderness. Tenderness shows a desire for
intimacy.
In our complex contemporary
world, we do not know how to talk about our sinfulness. The mere mention of the
word confuses us because we are often at a loss to describe when behavior is
proper or poor. Our definition of behavior is situational and is often in
relation to the way another person has wronged us. We justify ourselves, and by
doing so, we place ourselves in God’s role as judge. Without a proper
definition, we hold a web of negative feelings and we cannot articulate a vocabulary
that describes how we feel as a collection of these emotions. We strive for
integrity, and throughout the day others who impose their poor behavior upon us
beat us down. Life confounds us at times and we long for a day when the vision
is clearer and when we know where we stand.
In this
complicated moral world where definitions are ambiguous, God wants to speak to
you tenderly regardless of what you have done. Once you lift your eyes from
your guilt, you will see that God will do anything possible to let you know you
are wanted back home. Come. Return home. God will make straight in the
wasteland a highway for you where every valley shall be filled in and every
mountain and hill made low. God wants you to know that your pathway home will
be made easy and you will see the glory of the Lord every step of the journey.
Most notably, you will see it is the loving eyes of friends and family who not
only forgive you and accept you, but also are rejoicing because you are with
them once again. On this journey, we must be the ones who speak tenderly to
others to welcome them back onto the path that leads to the power of Christ.
Mark’s Gospel
gives us an image of the prophetically wild John the Baptist who is a curiosity
to many. I suggest that we be a curious image to others in the mold of the
Baptist, but I suggest we see ourselves, rather than a radical counter-cultural
warrior prophet, as a gentle friend of the Bridegroom, the best friend who will
lovingly always stand up for Jesus and the church. The Baptist is the one who
pointed others to Jesus of Nazareth. He listened to the sins of others and
disposed of them in the Jordan River – never holding onto them, watching them
flow swiftly out of their lives. Our poor behavior, shame, and guilt are of the
past. We have to look toward the new persons we are called to be. The Baptist
tightly held onto the new persons they became after they chose the new life
offered to them – a life flowing with promise and purpose, a life where the
opposing virtues of kindness and truth, justice and peace meet with serene
harmony, a life where one’s dignity and honor is honored. Isaiah, John, and
Pope Francis speak tenderly to the people and today many people are gratefully
listening and holding onto the comforting words of our Pope. Let us put down our
propensity to fight and learn to speak tenderly and joyfully to others.
Paul reminds us
that the Lord is patient with us and does not wish that any of us should
perish. We have to choose what sort of person we want to be. Dream a little and
then see the assistance you have along the way. Let the illusions you hold
about yourself to die so you can behold the tremendously marvelous person God
sees in you – your true self. Forgive yourself, even in others do not forgive
you, and then forgive others. We do our most important work by leveling those
mountains and raising up those valleys for others to meet their God and to come
back home. Lead everyone home. Let them know the church and God wants them to
come. Speak tenderly to them so they know you personally want them to come
home. Together, we will stand on top of that high mountain nestled in God’s
embrace and shout to the world: Behold. Behold. Behold our God! Our God cares
for us and we are glad.
Themes for this Week’s Masses
First Reading:
Monday: (Genesis
3 – Immaculate Conception) After Adam ate of the tree, God called and asked,
“Where are you?” I hid because I am naked. Who told you that you were naked?
The women whom you put here with me, she gave me the fruit and I ate it.
Tuesday: (Isaiah
40) Comfort, give comfort to my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and
proclaim to her that her service is at an end.
Wednesday: (Isaiah
40) Do you not know or have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal God, creator
of the ends of the earth. Lift up your eyes and see who has created these
things.
Thursday: (Isaiah
41) I will help you, says the Lord. I will turn the desert into a marshland
that all may see and know, observe and understand, that the hand of the Lord
has done this.
Friday: (Zechariah
2) Rejoice, O daughter Zion. I am coming to dwell among you.
Saturday: (Sirach
48) In those days, the prophet Elijah appeared. His words were as a flaming
furnace. You were destined in a time to come to put an end to wrath before the day
of the Lord.
Gospel:
Monday:
(Luke 1) The angel Gabriel visited Mary in Nazareth to announce that she will
become the mother of a child through the overpowering of the Holy Spirit. He
will bear a son and shall name him Jesus.
Tuesday: (Matthew
18) God is like a man with one hundred sheep who, when one of them goes astray,
will leave the 99 in search of the one lost one. God will rejoice that the one
has returned.
Wednesday: (Matthew
11) Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.
Thursday: (Matthew
11) Among those born of women, there is none greater than John the Baptist. All
the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. He is Elijah.
Friday: (Luke
1) Behold, you will conceive in your womb and shall bear a son. Behold, I am
the handmaid of the Lord.
Saturday: (Matthew
17) Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? He will restore all
things. Elijah has already come (John the Baptist) and the Son of Man will
suffer at the hands of those who do not recognize him.
Saints of the Week
December 7: Ambrose, bishop and doctor (339-397) was a Roman governor who
fairly mediated an episcopal election in Milan. He was then acclaimed their
bishop even though he was not baptized. He baptized Augustine in 386 and is
doctor of the church because of his preaching, teaching and influential ways of
being a pastor.
December 8: The Immaculate Conception of Mary is celebrated today, which is
nine months before her birth in September. The Immaculate Conception prepares
her to become the mother of the Lord. Scripture tells of the annunciation to
Mary by the angel Gabriel. Mary's assent to be open to God's plan makes our
salvation possible.
December 9: Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548) was a poor, simple,
indigenous man who was visited by Mary in 1531. She instructed him to build a
church at Guadalupe near Mexico City. During another visit, she told him to
present flowers to the bishop. When he did, the flowers fell from his cape to reveal
an image of Mary that is still revered today.
December 12: The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated to
remember the four apparitions to Juan Diego in 1531 near Mexico City shortly
after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. Mary appeared as a native Mexican
princess and her image is imprinted on a cloak that was presented to the
bishop.
December 13: Lucy, martyr (d. 304), was born into a
noble Sicilian family and killed during the Diocletian persecution. In the
Middle Ages, people with eye trouble invoked her aid because her name means
"light." Scandinavia today still honors Lucy in a great festival of
light on this day.
This Week in Jesuit History
·
Dec. 7, 1649: Charles Garnier was martyred in
Etarita, Canada, as a missionary to the Petun Indians, among whom he died
during an Iroquois attack.
·
Dec. 8, 1984: Walter Ciszek, prisoner in Russia
from 1939 to 1963, died.
·
Dec. 9, 1741: At Paris, Fr. Charles Poree died.
He was a famous master of rhetoric. Nineteen of his pupils were admitted into the
French Academy, including Voltaire, who, in spite of his impiety, always felt
an affectionate regard for his old master.
·
Dec 10, 1548. The general of the Dominicans
wrote in defense of the Society of Jesus upon seeing it attacked in Spain by
Melchior Cano and others.
·
Dec 11, 1686. At Rome, Fr. Charles de Noyelle, a
Belgian, died as the 12th general of the Society.
·
Dec 12, 1661. In the College of Clermont, Paris,
Fr. James Caret publicly defended the doctrine of papal infallibility, causing
great excitement among the Gallicans and Jansenists.
·
Dec 13, 1545. The opening of the Council of
Trent to which Frs. Laynez and Salmeron were sent as papal theologians and Fr.
Claude LeJay as theologian of Cardinal Otho Truchses.
Such a positive message of love and hope. I am especially drawn to this sentiment because I have a difficult meeting this morning: "Let us put down our propensity to fight and learn to speak tenderly and joyfully to others." I have been praying that this is how I will speak about this situation. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI pray that your meeting goes/has gone well. Once we invite Christ into our meetings and proceedings, somehow his grace takes over. I hope all is well from your prayerful style.
DeleteChrist was with us and the meeting was peaceful. Thank you.
DeleteI'm very glad. I'm glad it worked out well.
DeleteHello Father John, thank you for all you do for Our Lord.
ReplyDeleteAre you interested in speaking about Ignatian Spirituality on a Catholic podcast?
The Source and Summit Podcast is an open podium for Catholics to share their love for the Church.
Through the technology on our website you can record an item for the show, from your own computer.
It is a new way to spread the Word and let your voice be heard in the community.
You are welcome at sourceandsummit.cc for more information and to listen to some examples.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.
Peace be with you, Marvin Max.
I would be happy to speak on Ignatian Spirituality. Give me a little while, since it is a busy season. Next week I'll have greater availability. Thanks for the invitation.
Delete