Monday, December 8, 2014

Psalm 25

Isaiah 5:8–12, 18–23        

1 Thessalonians 5:1–11        

Luke 21:20–28

How are we to find the Messiah in these readings?  The psalm speaks of treachery, guilt, violence; Isaiah of greed, falsehood, arrogance, the Gospel of siege, desolation and vengeance.  These readings – thousands of years old – remind us all too vividly of the world we live in today.

The brutality of ISIS, the civil war in Syria, the death-toll of Ebola; the greed that leads to shrinking aquifers and global warming; terrorism and gang warfare; the hunger of the homeless, the children trapped in poverty. Where is the Messiah in the barbaric realities of our world?

And what of our own lives?  The lives of those we love?  Is there greed?  Desolation? Guilt? Falsehood? Where is the anger we feel or fear?  Even as we do our best to live our lives as Christians, there are times when we walk not in the light but in the dark.  Where is the Messiah?

An atheist once asked a chaplain “Where is your God for that child

dying of leukemia?”  The chaplain replied  “Jesus is lying in the bed with her, holding her in his arms.”

The Psalmist says: To you, O God, I lift up my soul.  O my God, inyou I put my trust.  Paul tells us: you are all children of light and children of the day.  And the Gospel says: stand up and raise your heads because your redemption in drawing near.

In the worst of times, let us remember that child with leukemia:  The Messiah is with us, holding us in His arms.

- Sr. Sue Elwyn, SSJD