- Reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew (11,2-11):
At that time, John, who had heard in prison the works of the Messiah, sent him to ask through his disciples: “Are you the one who is to come or do we have to wait for another?”
Jesus answered them: «Go and announce to Juan what you are seeing and hearing: the blind see, and the crippled walk; lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised, and the poor are announced the Gospel. And blessed is he who is not scandalized by me!”
As they left, Jesus began to speak to the people about John: «What did you go out to see in the desert, a reed shaken by the wind? Or what did you go to see, a man dressed in luxury? Who dress with luxury live in palaces. So, why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet; he is the one of whom it is written: “I send my messenger before you, to prepare the way before you.” I assure you that no one greater than John the Baptist has been born of a woman; although the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Lord’s word.
close already to Christmas, the joy before the next coming of God, it should dominate the time that still separates us from it; our joy, while we still wait May God come into our lives It is the way to testify our love to the God that we need so much. It should be possible for believers to live happily in a world from which God seems to be absent, if we knew that he is already on his way; To anticipate his return to us is to recover the joy of living. The liturgy insist today on this joy that is born from knowing God close; It would suffice to really wait for him, preparing for his return, so that the joy of living knowing our God was close to us would be restored to us.
John the baptist he spent his entire life waiting for God’s imminent salvation; so convinced was he that the Lord was coming, that he devoted himself completely to preparing his arrival; For this reason, it is tragic to hear that, at the end of his days, he still did not know that the long-awaited God had made himself present in Jesus of Nazareth… his active hope, the certainty that one day would come, did not prepare him well to recognize it when the time came…
Something similar may be happening to us; Despite the fact that we have expected it during this advent, it is possible that we will not find it during Christmas; even if we live wishing him during our lives; we can miss him when he comes, like John, because we have an idea of him that does not correspond to what he thinks he is for us; based on imagining him, while we missed him, to the extent of our needs, we have become so far from who he really is that we are not able to identify him, no matter how close he may be to us. And it is logical that, when we wait for God because we miss him, we delude ourselves with a God who fills our deficiencies and calms our need; but in this way we put our encounter with him at serious risk, by wishing him only for how much we need him, if we love him for how much he can give us, waiting for him only for the lack he makes us, is not the best way to prepare for his arrival.
He approached those who, because they needed God so much, allowed him to show himself to them as he wanted; In the days of Jesus as in ours, it is the needy, the poor, those who place fewer prior demands on God, those who do not feel disappointed by Him, those who get Him to come into their lives as He wants… This Christmas we will have to let him be the God he wants to be for us, without trying to make him conform to our ideas and meet our expectations…
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And, if we who live waiting for God owe something to the world in which we live, it is the joy of living; We owe the world the testimony of a happiness that is not disinterested in the happiness of others, that does not know how to be happy, without making those around us happy, that can give up a little joy because it lives waiting for the best, for its Lord Jesus . How opportune to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe tomorrow, because we know that she will listen to our pleas to present them to the Father… In effect, She tells us: “Am I not here, that I am your mother?”
Thank you, Jesus, for taking us seriously; for making you one of us. We will wait for you!
#Sunday #December