3rd Sunday of Advent

Our readings for 3rd Sunday of Advent are:

1. Isaiah 35: 1-6a, 10
2. Psalm 72: 146: 6-7, 8-9, 9-10
3. James 5: 7-10
4. Matthew 11: 2-11

• Return of the exile 
• Refugees of all sorts are like invisible amputees, they have been cut off from their roots, their homes, their loved ones, their livelihoods, and yet they look totally whole and complete.
• Our church tells us that we are exiles from God's heavenly kingdom.  How does that change the way that you look at all of the daily demands on your attention?
• When have you been displaced, cut off, exiled from friends, family, job, home, even if it was to move on to something better?
• What of heaven do you think will look/feel familiar when we are home again?
• How should that change the way that we live today?

• A captive audience
• Serious ongoing debate rages over how best to manage a seemingly endless supply of criminals in our prison system, yet you hardly ever hear discussion about how to rehabilitate them.
• When a convict who has served their time comes out of prison, it's easy to realize that they need a place to stay, a job, and so on, but what of giving them a reason to want those things?
• Fr. Al used to personally work with such folks to help them experience first hand what "life on the outside" could be like.  What sort of transition work should we, as God's faithful be doing for such individuals?

• If I don't complain about him, who will?
• Whining, griping, moaning, complaining is there any difference between those activities when it comes to how we treat one another?
• When one of us fails to be fully ourselves, fully who we are called to be, what are the rest of us to do?
• How can we tell when someone is really ready/able to take correction?
• Can such correction be prophetic?

• Congratulations, God has chosen you for ...
• We all want to feel commissioned, chosen, elected, but how does that election come to us?
• Do you think that your function/gifts/role within the Body changes over time?
• How can we become more sensitive to that change in direction? 

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How have I been hospitable to a displaced person lately?
2. How can I be more welcoming at our parish?  How can our parish be more welcoming?
3. When I speak, is truly in love?
4. What is the message of my life?

Good Intentions Can Leave You Lonely

Any paragraph that starts with "with all due respect" makes me cringe.
What follows is not outright mockery, but an object lesson in the limits of my authority.
A line drawn in the sand that says "I respect your office, your position, your role"
"But you, well, that's another story."

We cannot respect someone that we do not know,
And can hardly know someone we do not respect.
But once that deep knowledge of the other has been forged,
It becomes an occasion of mourning when they fail to be their true selves.

Sin in our lives obscures our view,
Cuts us off from the impact that we have on others,
Blinds us to the essential oneness of our existence,
To the point we feel our actions are victimless, truly secret.

Sin obscures my vision of how unlike myself I have grown
Grown into a caricature of myself,
A poor actor impersonating the real me
Upon a stage strewn with empty promises and quick fixes.

I need the occasional Nathan in my life
To remind me of who I am and what I am becoming
And help me see how much at odds that is with my thoughts, words, and deeds of late.
Any volunteers?

Shalom!