40, 54; 51
Zech. 7:8-8:8 Rev. 5:6-14 Matt. 25:14-30
The readings for this day are chock full of examples of God’s talking to us—guiding us, promising us, inspiring us, loving us, inviting us, cleansing us, and walking with us, trying to keep us on the path to wholeness in his image. The readings also illustrate how often we resist and close our ears to God’s voice—with our stubborn refusal to be still, quiet, and patient enough even to hear his voice, much less to follow it, choose it, and be cleansed and transformed by saying “Yes” in response to it.
Advent is my favorite liturgical season. It is simple; it is quiet; it is intimate; it is profoundly gestational, brimming with hope despite the spiritual toxicity around me. And it offers a time to refocus, to listen patiently for God’s voice as he invites me to leave behind my self-centered life and be transformed into partnership with him, every day, in his image.
On this December 17, we are but a few days from the celebration of that long-awaited birth, as a loving God assumed human form, with Mary’s gracious consent. Mary had stopped, listened, and heard God’s outrageous invitation and then responded with “Yes.” I yearn to be as tuned in as Mary, to stop, listen, and hear God’s invitation into transformation—and joyfully to say “Yes.”
Father, Help us to turn down the noise in our lives so that we may hear your voice and continue to grow in your image. Amen.
