Message from Augie

There are weeks in December when everything seems to move faster. The cards to send, the gifts to wrap, the calendar bursting with obligations all seem to move faster.  We tap our feet at the grocery store, sighs at red light, and curse the spinning circles on our screens.  We refresh, reload, restart, certain that the next thing, the next delivery, the next notification, will make us whole.

And yet Advent tells a different story.  It insists that the peace Jesus is offering us cannot be rushed.  It tells us that love, when hurried, loses it shape.  It calls us to slow own long enough for hope to catch up.

John the Baptist, who once stood so certain by the Jordan, is now sitting in a prison cell.  His bold voice has gone quiet.  Word reaches that Jesus, the one he announced as Messiah, is not raising an army, not overthrowing Rome, but eating with sinners and preaching mercy.  Doubt creeps in, and John sends his disciples to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

It is a profoundly human question, the question of every believers who has prayed and heard nothing, waited and seen no change, hoped and been met with silence.  John the greatest of prophets, now wonders if he misunderstood the signs.

And Jesus answers, not with theory, but with evidence:  “Go and tell John what you see and hear, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

He does not rebuke John for asking.  He simply says, in effect, look again.  The kingdom of God may not look like what you expected, BUT IT IS HERE!

                SO THE QUESTION:  WHAT DO YOU THINK THE KINGDOM OF GOD SHOULD LOOK LIKE?

PRAYER TO ST. JUDE:  St. Jude, apostle of Christ, the church honors and prays to you universally as the patron of hopeless and difficult cases.   Pray for us in our needs.   Make use, we implore you of this powerful privilege given to you to bring visible and speedy help where help is needed.  Pray that we humbly accept the trials and disappointments and mistakes which are a part of our human nature.   Help us to see the reflection of the suffering of Christ in the trials and tribulations of our lives.   Let us see in a spirit of great faith and hop the part we even now share in the joy of Christ’s resurrection and which we long to share fully in heaven.   Intercede that we may again experience this joy in answer to our present needs.   If it is God’s dire for us (here make your request)  we know our prayers will be heard through your intercession.  AMEN