NOTE: Throughout the Advent season, we’ll post a reflection on the readings for the upcoming Sunday in Advent just a few days before so individuals and groups can reflect in anticipation or incorporate it into their meetings, homilies, etc. The reflection will be available on our homepage through the weekend and then archived on our Advent 2023 webpage.
The reflection below is written by Adrienne Alexander from the 2014 Advent reflection booklet. This year’s booklet is still available for purchase at this link as an immediate download for your tablet or e-reader for $2.50.
By Adrienne Alexander
Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11 | 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 | John 1:6-8, 19-28
He said, “I am the voice of the one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.'”
— John 1:23
This Gospel passage is particularly profound because of the messenger. Remember, John the Baptist lived in the wilderness and looks like it, probably smells like it. He is not refined, but God is using him to testify that Jesus is God. So naturally, the approach of the religious elite is to question John the Baptist’s authority and gauge his ambition.
A friend once told me that the marginalized have the most informed view of the world. That should not be a surprise because throughout the Bible God uses imperfect figures, those on the outskirts of society, to deliver messages or otherwise reveal God’s work. And yet, it is human to find ourselves dismissing people whom we don’t view as legitimate. I can think of examples of state legislators who made the news by discrediting workers who testified in favor of a minimum wage increase as being unqualified to speak on an economic issue.
As we prepare for Christmas, let us do our best to develop John the Baptist’s clarity of mission. And let us pray continually that the Holy Spirit would guide us so that our hearts will be open to God’s message, even when the messenger may look different from us.
FOR REFLECTION:
- In your world, who are the voices from the wilderness?
>> For more Advent resources and reflections, click here.
The People from Gaza who are being mercilessly bombed, in the worst genocide since the bombs fell on Hiroshema. Three times the nuclear disaster of Hiroshima on the tiny strip of land, in the last 65 days. 20,000 innocent civilians unable to take refuge and with no warning who would be next. 9,000 of the dead, many crushed under their destroyed homes, are children. The U.S. solely VETOES a ceasefire, as eleven countries in the UN have voted for. PLEASE PRAY FOR THE KILLING TO STOP. Pray for Joe Biden, who could have demanded a ceasefire and saved thousands of lives. He is war criminal, along with the Congresspersons who remained silent.