Advent reminds us to look carefully at life in its entirety...from the external of what we do all the way to the core of what and how we ARE. We look beneath the trappings of ordinary life to appreciate what is going on in the HEART of our existence. The reality is that each of us lives with brokenness and pain that impacts the core of our humanness. That is what it means to be living in the world -- it is as simple as that.
The readings this week invite awareness about the need each of us has for healing. Some of us have obvious challenges that we present before God for healing and renewal. When situations are openly painful we readily seek and rely upon the promises of the abundant measure of grace freely given in Christ.
But what about when our life, on the surface, is basically "good"? What about when everything is moving along according to our self-determined plans and expectations?
Advent reminds us once again of the approach of Christ who meets us at the center of human suffering and promises wholeness AT OUR DEEPEST CENTER. Visit once again the reading from Matthew 15, 29-37.
After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
Reflect..Ponder...Pray:
How are you lame....unable to move?
How are you maimed....broken or wounded?
How are you mute....are there unspoken truths crying out for expression?
How are you blind...if all obstructions were removed from the eyes of your heart, what would you see?
What is your deepest hunger?
Wait....be still...prepare for the promised coming of the healer of every ill...the light which illuminates the darkness of all suffering.
No comments:
Post a Comment