Reflection at Vespers: 2nd Week of Advent 2023

One thing I have learned in my life is to be very careful about making promises. Life is unpredictable and I can not ever assure something will happen as I desire. Circumstances change, love changes and I can’t guarantee solutions. This is just realistic.

Yet here we find ourselves in Advent, the Season of Promises. We rest our lives on the promise of Jesus Christ. John makes promises in today’s scriptures. The one who comes ‘will feed his flock’; ‘will gather the lambs tenderly; ‘will lead the ewes with care.’ In other words, we will be cared for and loved. In the Gospel John promises that ‘the one coming brings forgiveness; he will bring us the Spirit and that through Baptism we are One with Christ. We live daily with this promise of Christ’s transforming presence in and around us. For as unpredictable as life is – Christ is never unpredictable. Christ comes to be with us always. Nothing can we do to earn this presence – it is the eternal promise that is our foundation.

It does take courage, trust, and intention to be true to the Promise of Christ. I won’t say it is easy. However, we are not asked to do that much.

The one requirement, you might say, is to be authentic. Recognize our gifts and use them to bring others into this Promise of Christ. And acknowledge when we are less than who we are called to be and seek mercy. When we stumble in our efforts, or our trust wobbles, forgiveness and mercy are in abundance. We seek mercy and it is always there.

These weeks of Advent gives us the opportunity to bask in the Promise of Christ. To see its beauty, to be grateful we are His people, and to appreciate the Promises fulfilled in our own life. It is a time to reset the parts of our lives we acknowledge as less than. This process is every day; however, Advent draws us to a more profound recognition of the Promise.

Our lives are filled with the Promise of Christ. May we continue to trust the Promise, to be authentic before Christ and to live grateful lives for all we are blessed with. As unpredictable as life is – we live with the Promise that is predicable and does not disappoint.