Advent Week 2 Reflection

In ancient times it was customary to send a crew ahead of the king’s chariot or carriage. After all, there were no paved roads. Obstacles had to be removed. New trails had to be blazed. Sometimes ditches needed to be filled and bridges built. The safe and timely arrival of the king was of the utmost importance.

Clearing roads and building bridges is tough work. It is slow work. Likewise the work of God is often slow, at least slower than we would like.

When you think about it, four weeks of Advent is not a large amount of time, so it will go by rather quickly. But the work of God is slow. Perhaps it is more true to say the work of God in us, on us, for us, is slow. But if we are honest we must admit it is slowed by our crooked paths, our deep valleys and our high mountains, all of which we helped to construct in some way.

The prophetic voice of Baruch was shouting out to a stiff-necked people in exile about restoration. Yes, it was God’s promise of restoration to their land but more importantly it was a return to right relationship with their God. Baruch tells us how God will do this: God has promised to “lead Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with mercy and justice for company.” God will lead; we must follow over what is our own rough terrain. Restoring a relationship is hard work, slow work.

The word of God that came to John long ago in the desert can be heard today: Repent. Prepare. Make straight. Fill the valleys. Smooth the rough ways. It is hard work, it is slow work.

Prophetic voices shout out to us today with a promise, a promise of rejoicing. But we must listen. Mercy and justice don’t just happen. Mercy and justice are a result of love, immense love. God will lead with mercy and justice. We must follow the immense love God has for each one of us. Prepare….Make straight God’s path to your heart with true humility….Fill the valleys of doubt with trust in God….Smooth the rough ways by showing the same merciful love to others.

Prophetic voices shout out to us today with a promise, a promise of rejoicing. In a few days, Pope Francis will open the Jubilee Year of Mercy. “Merciful like the Father” has been chosen as the motto. How appropriate in this time of Advent to focus not only on God’s merciful love for us but how we must love each other. Restoring a relationship is hard work, slow work. As St. Paul tells us “a good work has begun” in each of us and it is our partnership for the gospel that brings us knowledge and sharpens our perception so we may discern what is of value. What is of value to us? What has more value and worth than any other “thing” we could possess? Love. It is love that has the power to change the terrain of one’s life. It is love that has the power to restore our relationship with God and others. It is hard work, it is slow work.

In Hearts on Fire, Teilhard de Chardin speaks to the slow work of God…
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the immediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability – and that it may take a very long time…
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
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