Sunday reflections

Vast, bare and silent, the desert is a place of spare and rugged beauty. It is also very confronting: an arid, barren environment with extreme temperatures, searing heat by day and freezing cold by night.

Australians have long grumbled about the “nanny state.” We roll our eyes at tobacco excises, plain packaging laws, bicycle helmet requirements, and bans on advertising to kids. Yet, if we’re honest, no one lying in a hospital bed with lung cancer, managing type 2 diabetes, or recovering from a head fracture, ever mutters, “This wouldn’t have happened if the government had just stayed out of my business.”

According to a book called The Life of Francis of Assisi, Francis invited a young monk to join him on a trip to town to preach. Honoured to be given the invitation, the monk readily accepted. All day long he and Francis walked through the streets, byways, and alleys, and even into the suburbs.

In this liturgical year, Year A, we focus on readings from Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew writes towards the end of the first century AD, for a Christian community comprised of Jewish converts. In his gospel, he strives to demonstrate for them how Jesus is the fulfilment of the faith, hopes and promises of their Jewish faith, the fulfilment of all that is in “the law and the prophets” (Mt 5:17).

Galilee was no one’s idea of a place that could launch a ‘world changing movement’. Galilee’s history was not glorious. The readings this week refer to it as the “land of Naphtali”, which was one of the breakaway tribes of the Jewish people that formed the northern kingdom of Israel.

When Joseph learns that his young fiancée is pregnant, he must have been quite distressed. He probably thought that she had been unfaithful, had been attacked, or was delusional. He knows that the child is not his, so his long genealogy linking the family to David would be irrelevant. We can only imagine the confusion, hurt, and anger of this ‘man of honour’.

“Stay awake!” It’s not exactly the most comforting advice for people who might already be tired at the end of a long year – especially as we join the throngs flocking to shops for the usual Christmas spend-up. Yet that’s the cry that greets us on this first Sunday of Advent. The season opens not with tinsel and cheer, but with Jesus telling his disciples to be alert, watchful, and ready for something new.

When we hear the words, ‘a voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord …’, what do we hear? A young man wondered whether he was being called to be a priest. But when have we heard a call to prepare a way for the Lord?

“Stay awake!” It’s not exactly the most comforting advice for people who might already be tired at the end of a long year – especially as we join the throngs flocking to shops for the usual Christmas spend-up. Yet that’s the cry that greets us on this first Sunday of Advent. The season opens not with tinsel and cheer, but with Jesus telling his disciples to be alert, watchful, and ready for something new.

We come to the last Sunday of this liturgical year, and our year-long celebration of all the wonders that God has done for us culminates in the feast of Christ the King. Crowning the liturgical year, we profess and rejoice that Christ is King of the Universe, Lord of all creation, and that he is Lord of our lives, individually and communally.