The Vision of God"

Sunday Mass Reading

We all dream dreams. We dream our children will have better futures. We dream of the new house we will have. Young people dream of their careers. What would it be to have no dreams? God has a vision for the world, God has a vision for our nation, God has a vision for our families, and God has a vision for each of us. And it is worth asking ourselves today, “What is his vision for me? How can I bring God’s vision for the world and his vision for me together? Let us try and figure this out, so that as we begin this advent season, we have something to work on apart from lights and gifts so that we can achieve one thing: make our world, our families, our lives become closer to the vision God has for each of us. May our Christmas decorations and gifts be a celebration of that accomplishment.

To do this let us break the readings into three points: First, there is an invitation God gives us in the readings: Isaiah would say, “Come let us walk I the light of the Lord.” St. Paul puts it differently; “Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day…” Jesus would say, “Stay awake!” All the three reading are in some way inviting us to shun darkness, shun the deeds of darkness and move into the light of the Lord.

Advent is a beautiful season, because it makes us look back and it makes us look to the future. It makes us look at what Jesus came for and it makes us look to his future coming and ask myself: will I have a better world to offer him when he comes again; will I have a better ‘me’ to offer him when he comes again. This advent let us work on ourselves, our world, our families, so that this Christmas we may make of ourselves a wonderful Christmas gift to Jesus. May his dream for me come true, may his vision for my family come true, may his vision for me come true.

- Fr. Satish Joseph