The Catholic Calendar for Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
(Mass in the Morning)

O Come,
Emmanuel,
God's presence among us, our King, our Judge:
save us, Lord our God!


Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16
Psalm 89:2-5,27,29
Luke 1:67-79

The Dayspring shall visit us in his mercy
to guide our feet into the way of peace. (see Luke 1:78-79)

This Advent season renews our hope in the creation of a better world, one not torn apart by hatred and bloodshed. Christ was sent to us for several reasons: first, to fulfill God's justice through His death in human flesh, thus expiating our sin and restoring us to friendship with God; second, to define and demonstrate to us God's love which is His very own context, the context in which He created humanity to live; and third, to give us through His Holy Spirit the grace we need to be created anew, transformed into the image of Himself which we lost through sin at The Fall. If we desire to gain true peace, we must relearn how to love as God loves.

From time to time we read about whales that have beached themselves and will perish if they remain removed from the context in which God created them -- the seas. We can't fathom why a whale does this, but we do know that the human psyche is prone to sin. In brief, we prefer to live independently and selfishly apart from the self-giving context of God's love, the very source of our life. Presently, humanity's behavior is like that of beached whales dooming themselves to death.

O merciful God,
help us to see that we were created by You to love as You love:
perfectly and unconditionally.
By grace, restore us to living in the context of Yourself
so clearly demonstrated to us by Your Son.

- Marie Bocko, ocds (mlbocko at borg dot com)

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posted by joachim at 4:21 AM