A reflection on the daily readings, for Thursday of the Third Week of Advent, by Father Perry.
+ So you are walking past a house on your block and you hear screaming and crying and all kinds of shouting going on.
You don’t know the family very well, but you assume (it’s only logical) that a huge family fight is going on and perhaps somebody is going to get really hurt!
+ But it turns out that this family just won a $150 million lottery, and the screaming and shouting and crying is an outburst of unbelief and gratitude, and crazy, crazy joy.
Tears and shouts of joy!
+ That is how some see these descriptions of God‘s response to Israel: “In an outburst of wrath, I hide my face from you.”
Is this really what God is saying and doing, or is the collapse of Israel and domination by others and the wars and destruction and the literal and figurative barrenness of peoples and a nation the result of their sinfulness and their turning away from God?
Go ahead! Say God is doing the punishment. Blame your pain and sorrows on God.
+ + +Or — is it consequences for their own actions?
If a people say they believe in God but then don’t let this God into their lives — turn away, sin and sin and sin — do they not warrant the consequences of their turning away?
And yet when they come back, what do they find? A God who renews his covenant of love. A God who promises eternal faithfulness. A God who binds up wounds and heals the past. A God who says things like a lover: “My love shall never leave you!”
+ And so Jesus addresses the same by asking the people, what do they want, what do they see, what do they hear, why did they come? “Then what did you go out to see, a prophet?” he asks them.
And he also answers his own question: “Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet!”
He elevates John; he elevates all who would believe and enter through their faith and faithfulness into the kingdom of God that he announces and shares with them.
+ But as always, beware! There are those who will look but not see, listen but not hear; and their hearts will be closed.
And as always, beware the consequences for our actions and/or lack of action.
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
