Thursday of the Third Week in Advent

Scripture Readings

In both today's first reading and responsorial psalm today we hear a common message about God's wrath. In the Psalms we read, "For his anger lasts but a moment; a lifetime, his good will. At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing." And in the book of Isaiah we read, "In an outburst of wrath, for a moment I hid my face from you; But with enduring love I take pity on you, says the LORD, your redeemer."

I feel, as a parent, I can relate with these feelings. There are moments when I become frustrated, angry and upset with my children make - especially when they look at me and knowingly disobey. While there is anger initially, these feelings always fade and are replaced with steadfast love. 

And we hear today that God's love is similar. This is the message of salvation history. God sees the way his people have chosen to worship other gods, ignore Him and sin over loving Him - and we see that He does get angry - He floods the earth - yet he returns to love. He goes so far as to send us Jesus, because He loves us so much. 

And this must also be the story of each of our own salvation histories. There will be times when we sin, when we choose other idols over God - our self-image, our families, our careers, our own self-interests. And we must accept that this does anger God. It is naive to believe God is happy with our actions all of the time. And this is where reconciliation, penance and apology can offer healing. But following this wrath and our sincere apology, we must remember that ultimately God is a God of love. When we seek God first, we seek love and we will receive love in return. 

Just as my children know that I will love them no matter what, they also know that there are standards for how they are to act and how they should treat others. There are boundaries and limitations - they need these to grow. And the same is true of God.  We know that God loves us, unconditionally, but we also know that there are limits and boundaries we must follow - the 10 commandments and beatitudes come to mind initially. We are expected to live according to these standards. When we do not, we do anger God and we need to seek reconciliation with the Lord.  And when we seek this reconciliation we do so with the hope and knowledge that God's wrath and anger are fleeting and are quickly replaced with love - a love that allows forgiveness and growth.  

As Advent comes to a close and Christmas draws near, I pray we may each take time to examine our conscience and admit the ways in which we have angered God. And from that examination I pray we each seek out the sacrament of reconciliation, to prepare our hearts for Christ - the ultimate gift of God's love.  If you missed the reconciliation service on Tuesday, I encourage you to seek out a time for reconciliation sometime between now and Christmas.  Amen.  

- AJ Grimm