Word to the Wise
Thursday, December 4, 2008 - Thursday in the First Week of Advent
[Isaiah 26:1-6 and Matthew 7:21, 24-27]"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. Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock."
The Advent season is one in which we are presented on all sides with the figures from the infancy narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. There are Mary, Joseph, angels, Magi, Shepherds, Zechariah, Elizabeth (with John the Baptist jumping up and down inside her), Simeon, Anna and, of course, Jesus himself! One pattern emerges from all the stories (here I am indebted to Fr. Raymond Brown's wonderful writings). All these figures are people who hear the good news and act on it! Even the boy Jesus is found doing his Father's "business" in the temple precincts! It would take too long to go through each figure. Perhaps when you set up your "crib scene" you can stop with each human figure and ask how they exemplified the profile of a disciple as outlined in the words from Matthew above. I know, I know, Elizabeth and Zechariah and John are not likely to be in your crib set - you'll have to imagine them! Perhaps it might be worthwhile to have the crib set sitting on the pages of the Bible with the stories of Jesus' birth. Fr. Brown's writings make it clear that the "infancy narratives" are "mini-gospels" and not just accounts of events about Jesus' origins. Discipleship is at the heart of following Jesus and we are invited to become part of the story from page one not just in our imagination but also in living out our lives this Advent and at all times. AMEN
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