16 Dec 2010, Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

Reading 1
Is 54:1-10

Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear,
Break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor,
For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife
than the children of her who has a husband,
says the LORD.
Enlarge the space for your tent,
spread out your tent cloths unsparingly;
lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes.
For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left;
your descendants shall dispossess the nations
and shall people the desolate cities.

Fear not, you shall not be put to shame;
you need not blush, for you shall not be disgraced.
The shame of your youth you shall forget,
the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember.
For he who has become your husband is your Maker;
his name is the LORD of hosts;
Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
called God of all the earth.
The LORD calls you back,
like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
A wife married in youth and then cast off,
says your God.
For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with great tenderness I will take you back.
In an outburst of wrath, for a moment
I hid my face from you;
But with enduring love I take pity on you,
says the LORD, your redeemer.

This is for me like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah
should never again deluge the earth;
So I have sworn not to be angry with you,
or to rebuke you.
Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
My love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Ps 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b Responsorial Psalm
R. (2a)

I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.”
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Gospel
Lk 7:24-30

When the messengers of John the Baptist had left,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John.
“What did you go out to the desert to see B a reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine garments?
Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously
are found in royal palaces.
Then what did you go out to see?
A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom Scripture says:

Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
he will prepare your way before you.

I tell you,
among those born of women, no one is greater than John;
yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”
(All the people who listened, including the tax collectors,
who were baptized with the baptism of John,
acknowledged the righteousness of God;
but the Pharisees and scholars of the law,
who were not baptized by him,
rejected the plan of God for themselves.)

Meditation: Luke 7:24-30

“What did you go out to the desert to see?” (Luke 7:24)

With these words, Jesus confronted the religious leaders who had been speaking ill of John the Baptist. Evidently, his asceticism had turned them off. But these same leaders were grumbling that Jesus spent time eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. It seems that nothing these two men of God did was good enough. One was super-spiritual, while the other seemed to be too wild.

These religious leaders set such stringent standards of what godliness was supposed to look like that they sternly condemned anything that fell outside of their narrow boundaries. They had their expectations set, leaving no room for the freedom of the Holy Spirit.

This passage can lead us to ask one very important question: How rigid am I? And we can answer that question by examining our spiritual lives: Am I enjoying the freedom that John and Jesus knew—the freedom to live as Jesus is leading me? The freedom to respond to his Spirit in line with my own personality and with the way I sense he is calling me to? Remember: Some are called to contemplation, others to exuberance. Some are called to pour out their lives for the poor, and others to work for change in society. Some have a special devotion to the rosary, and others to charismatic prayer. The only really important question is whether each person is loving Jesus, keeping his commands, and trying to build the kingdom of God.

Like Jesus and John, the saints exhibited distinct personality traits suited to their calling: Philip Neri was jovial and easily attracted followers to Christ, while Jerome, a brilliant but abrasive man, was better suited to the more isolated work of a scholar. Francis Xavier’s passion and ambition carried him around the world as a missionary, while the cloistered Thérèse of Lisieux’s childlike spirit enabled her to understand and communicate the Father’s love. Teresa of Ávila, strong-willed and witty, was a reformer and prolific writer, while Padre Pio used his listening and intuitive skills as a gifted confessor.

So let’s try our best to love and serve God and others. Let’s try to find out what God is calling us to do.

“Father, I rejoice in the freedom I have as your child. I trust you and will follow you wherever you lead!”

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