The First Advent Reflection of the Year

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Welcome to the first blog post of the season of Advent in 2013.  Cogitata Sanctatis began as a musing; a place to put things to paper that linger in my mind long after the day has ended or more distractedly, long after I have stopped paying close attention in one of many staff meetings.  The not paying attention is a sin I must vehemently work on.  I sometimes feel as though my participation in the blog is a reflection of my personal faith life.  When the blog entries slow down, my faith life seems to stall or stagnate.  When the entries pick up, my faith life is booming with growth.  Today, I find myself needing to add entries to the blog.  Best part is that I don’t expect a single soul to read this, but it is out there. 

The readings for daily Mass today tell a story.  The story is about things that will come.  The prophet Isaiah is calling the people to repentance but he is doing so with veiled language.  The image he shows to the people is one that is dressed with joy.  He says that they will sing in the land of Judah because the Lord will protect in his city the people who believe.  This is followed with a more detailed description of what will happen to those who don’t repent, which is where the call to repentance finds its strength.  The prophet tells us that the ones in high places will be brought down, crushed and trampled by the needy and the poor.  Just who are the ones in high places?  Let us wait to that question.

The psalmist bridges the prophet and our Gospel message.  The psalm connects us and prepares us for the message we have for today but first telling us that ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’  We are given a reminder to trust in the Lord because he is the one who grants prosperity and can give life.  The psalms are more than just songs and hymns to be sung in a Church.  They offer keen insight into the message of the Church in the daily readings.  They can also speak to us directly by helping us to take in the gospel meaning in our lives.  And definitely, blessed is he who comes in the name of Lord. 

And now onto today’s gospel:  The writer of the Gospel of Saint Matthew gives us a glimpse into one of Jesus’ favorite teaching methods—the analogy.  Let’s not try to discount this because we are taking a 21^st century look at a 1^st century thought.  We have the luxury of 2000 years of critical thought.  But what is it that Jesus wants us to hear, today.  Jesus tells us that salvation is for those who do the will of the father.  This is new theology for the Jewish people.  Jesus speaks of the Father but still has not been fully revealed as the Son.  So, in order to not complete alienate these people who are following him for no other reason than he performs miracles, he speaks to them analogously to help them understand the radical new things he will bring.  Jesus opens his analogy by saying that the person who hears and acts on what Jesus says is like the man who builds on rock.  So Jesus talks about the house on sand and how it was destroyed.  The people would have certainly picked up on this idea because they lived in a region where sand and wind and floods were not abnormal occurrences.  Most of the ordinary people would have either lived in mud brick house or were workers in rich people’s houses.  Thus the central theme of being grounded in faith with a strong foundation would not have been out of the ordinary. 

So where does this take us today?  The Church calls us in this time of Advent to prepare our hearts and recommit ourselves to Jesus and our faith.  We are not called to be Sunday Christians or Christmas-only Catholics but to live as though we are firmly rooted in our faith and able to withstand to handle what the world will bring us.  Today, Christ calls us to live more courageously and more virtuously as we encounter a world more hostile to Christian charity.  So let us reflect today on what Jesus tells us to do.  He tells us that it is not enough to hear his words and call his name.  We must act on his words and allow him to work through us, in complete docility, to bear great fruit in the world.