SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS | Let’s bend our lives more toward Christ

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

“On that day…”

At least a dozen times, this week’s readings from the prophet Isaiah speak about time — specifically, the time of the Lord’s coming.

“On this mountain…”

Likewise, the readings from Isaiah make at least a dozen special references to place — the place where the Lord dwells or will come.

Modern physics tells us that time and space can be “bent” by gravity. Isaiah talks about how time is bending toward the Lord’s coming and how nations will be drawn to the place where He comes.

In its own way, all of culture is “bending” toward Christmas now. People’s sense of time is dominated by how many days ‘til Christmas; spaces are dominated by Christmas decorations of one kind or another. How might we “bend” our lives more deeply toward Christ as we begin Advent?

The Gospel of Matthew shows Christ fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah about time and place: “At that time, Jesus … went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to Him … and He cured them.” On that day, on this mountain, the God of Israel came in the flesh to meet His people. How might the space and time of our lives bend toward that reality?

Some of the most beautiful passages in the Church’s theological tradition are offered in the Office of Readings during the first week of Advent. They speak about the first coming of Christ, His coming in flesh 2,000 years ago; and they speak about the last coming of Christ, in glory at the end of time. Then, in light of His first and final coming, they speak of how we can let Christ come into our hearts day by day. It’s as though they were saying: If all of history can “bend” around Christ’s first and final coming, so can our lives.

Consumer culture makes it very evident how we’re centered on a holiday. What might it mean for us, as Christians, to make it just as evident that our lives are centered on Jesus coming in the flesh and at the end of time?

We hear an episode of healing this week, where Jesus says to two blind men: “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” If Jesus said that to us, would our faith in Him (and not just in the economics of Christmas) be strong enough to make anything happen?

Reflecting on the question of faith, Pope Benedict XVI once said, “When we affirm ‘I believe in God’ we are saying, like Abraham, ‘I trust in you, I entrust myself to you, O Lord,’ but not as to someone to turn to solely in times of difficulty or to whom to devote a few moments of the day or week. Saying ‘I believe in God’ means founding my life on Him, letting His Word guide it every day, in practical decisions.”

Let’s spend some time, as Advent begins, thinking about how we can bend our hearts more toward Jesus – so that He might have a gravitational effect on our lives and we, in turn, might have a gravitational effect on others.