It’s the middle of the night and I’m wide awake on this, the very last of the Liturgical Year, Cycle A. We are now on the threshold of ADVENT, and as the sun sets in just 15 hours, this beautiful Season begins. Endings lead to beginnings which lead to hope. The readings are calling us to awaken to life and the coming of the Lord. We are called to awaken so as to be prepared for the many tribulations of life, and they are many. But each trial is a call to surrender to the living embrace of Christ who calms and heals our troubled hearts.
I’m staying in a house in the middle of the woods and it is DARK. You can’t see anything in front of you, only the bright stars above in cloudless skies. The light of these tiny, distant stars shine brightly in the heavens and I gaze in awe and wonder. The Book of Revelation is a painfully difficult book to read, so very hard to comprehend, but its message in today’s liturgy is just beautiful. The DAY will come, like the Lord, and the NIGHT will be no more. No need for sun or stars. The Lamb, Christ, will gather the throngs of people whose foreheads are marked, perhaps tattooed, with His Name. A perpetual Easter Day will be the only day on the calendar, and the only season will be EASTER!!
I end the day, this day, on the threshold of Advent, with the words of a dear parishioner of St. Teresa, of several decades. She is Lady Wisdom who speaks three languages: Spanish, English, Love. She called me just before sunset as the ruddy sun was sinking. Her words to me came at the right time, as Advent approaches, and my heart troubled for untold reasons. Her message spoke that third language , Love, as she spoke words of Wisdom, her spiritual namesake. This third language is one we all speak, some more fluently than others. This beautiful parishioner is deeply fluent in this language.
Little did she know the impact of her wisdom words upon me, a message of Light, Hope. The turmoil of the heart began to calm. The Lamb was coming to light in my heart. This woman of wisdom was my “priest” mediating love and peace, awakening me to hope.
Come Lord Jesus...
Peace,
Fr. Frank