Message of 12-2-14

Published: Tue, 12/02/14

Message of the Day

Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? … If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.

- Blaise Pascal. 1623-1662 -

(When faith and conﬁdence seems nowhere to be found, there is always “Pascal’s wager,” which is only good, common sense. Affirm your faith in God this day, and be alert for God’s response in your mind and heart.)

Daily Readings

IS 11:1-10; PS 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17; LK 10:21-24

R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.

O God, with your judgment endow the king,

and with your justice, the king’s son;

He shall govern your people with justice

and your afflicted ones with judgment.

Justice shall flower in his days,

and profound peace, till the moon be no more.

May he rule from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

He shall rescue the poor when he cries out,

and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.

He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;

the lives of the poor he shall save.

May his name be blessed forever;

as long as the sun his name shall remain.

In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;

all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.

USCCB Lectionary

Reflection on the Scriptures

During Advent we celebrate the coming of the Kingdom of God. It helps to recall that the word Advent is from the Latin ad (to) and venire (come), which translates into “to come to.” To whom does it come? To us. What is coming? God’s Kingdom. It is what we pray in the Our Father: “Thy Kingdom come!”

God’s Kingdom has come to us in two stages, and we await the third. The first is announced by the prophets of the Old Testament and is well illustrated in today’s reading from Isaiah (Is 25:6-10). In it, the Prophet announces that God is preparing His Kingdom for us. He describes it as a great banquet. We’re not there yet, says Isaiah, but be assured, the banquet will come. Commenting on the passage, scripture scholar Daniel Harrington, S.J., wrote in America Magazine some time ago:

[Isaiah] pictures God’s Kingdom as a grand banquet with “a feast of rich food and choice wines.” In a society in which such food and drink were in short supply, the image was powerful. The one who supplies this extraordinary meal is “the Lord of hosts,” and it is open to “all peoples.” It takes place on “this mountain,” most likely the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which itself was an image of God’s dwelling place. At this banquet God will destroy death, end all suffering and bring about salvation. At this banquet the hopes of God’s people will be fulfilled.

What Isaiah describes is what God’s Kingdom will be in its fullness. It will be a while before we sit down at the banquet, but we know we are invited to it, and that gives us Hope.

- by Kevin Kersten, S.J.

Creighton Online Ministries

Spiritual Reading

Selected Quotes from the Writings of St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Divinity is aimed at humanity.

"With my mouth," God says, "I kiss my own chosen creation. I uniquely, lovingly, embrace every image I have made out of the earth’s clay. With a fiery spirit I transform it into a body to serve all the world."

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