Grant you faithful, we pray, almighty God,
the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ
with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,
they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
The following is the Scriptural Reflection for our website at the diocese - dioceseofgreensburg.org - that I prepared for this weekend. I thought that I would also share it here.
This is the time of the year when girls and boys are writing their letters to Santa with their list of things that they want for Christmas. They have been told by their parents that if they have been god throughout the year, Santa will visit them on Christmas eve and bring them their hearts desire. They rely upon this treasured promise.
I remember my Mom trying to get me to eat my vegetables at mealtime. She would promise that if I cleaned my plate, including the vegetables, I would get dessert. I must confess that Mom was not very successful because even today vegetables are not often found on my plate. I also found that despite the conditions to her promise, the dessert usually found its way before me.
We are children and men and women whose lives are filled with promises. We know that those promises are not always made good in our lives and so we are skeptical of their truthfulness. But we also know that when a promise made to us or by us is fulfilled that we are blessed.
We begin a new Church Year this weekend. The First Sunday of Advent renews our desire to draw closer to the Lord as we seek his deepening presence in our lives. And that relationship with its blessings is the promise given us - not in the magical hope for Christmas gifts or the efforts to have you eat your vegetables or the desire to achieve success - but in the more important, life-giving moment of attaining the truth and celebrating the life that is eternal.
We are Children of the Promise. We have been chosen by the Creator to share in his life. We have been called by him to walk in his love. We have been gifted by him to share ourselves with others in order to make strong his Kingdom.
Jeremiah today reminds us that "The days are coming says the Lord when I will fulfill the promise that I made …". That promise involves the coming of the "just shoot" from David's line, the One who will establish the reign of God, the anointed Messiah who will save his people from themselves and from their sins and restore them to the glory and dignity that is theirs by right - as Children of God, heirs of the Kingdom, Children of the Promise.
We still await the fulfillment of the promise and we do so with renewed hope. Like Saint Paul to the Thessalonians we exhort each other to seek from the Lord an increase in love for God and for one another … to be strong of heart … to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father … and to conduct ourselves to please God.
No amount of broken promises, no experiences of empty words, no amount of waiting should keep us from moving forward in the season of anticipation toward the heart of the promise - the coming of our Messiah and Lord, Jesus Christ, in this moment of grace and blessing.
Journey well in these weeks of Advent toward Emmanuel.
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