For evening prayer last night our Director chose to do a method of Lectio Divina (Reading from Scripture) with Meditatio (Meditation).
The passage he chose was that of Jesus' call to the disciples--his call to follow him. Several words stood out from what he read: "Come," "See," "Hear," "Find," "Follow," "Chosen," and "Love."
These words came together for me in the following way: "Come and see and hear so that you may find and follow because you were chosen to love." Maybe a bit of stretch, but it speaks to me.
Today's readings for Tuesday of the first week of Advent, I think, speak to this: God call us, God chooses us, do we choose to respond to his love? Are we not always being invited to "come and see and hear so that we may find, leading us to follow because of our being chosen to love?"
The 1st Reading for today from Isaiah is the famous reading of the peaceable kingdom:
"Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;The calf and the young lion shall browse together,with a little child to guide them.The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,together their young shall rest;the lion shall eat hay like the ox.The baby shall play by the cobra’s den,and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,as water covers the sea."
Are we not called to love so that we may create this peaceable kingdom? Are we not chosen to love for this purpose? We are given the gifts to make it possible in our being chosen, the first part of this reading, is clear about what the Spirit will provide us:
"The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A Spirit of counsel and of strength,a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. Not by appearance shall he judge,nor by hearsay shall he decide, But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips."
Has God not chosen us like Isaiah speaks of Jesse? Has not God allowed a shoot to "sprout from our stump" and from our "roots a bud shall blossom?" Are we not to be the "signal for the nations" Isaiah speaks about? We are chosen to make the peaceable kingdom alive in our lives. We are chosen to love so much so that we become that peaceable kingdom.
Continuing on the topic of being chosen--Jesus speaks of the same in today's gospel. Jesus says: "No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."
The question is do we allow Jesus to reveal himself, to reveal the Father to us? Do we recognize that we have been chosen?
A wonderful Advent theme: to be revealed. We are preparing for the revelation of God the Father in his Son, Jesus. Let us prepare our hearts daily to recognize how Jesus is revealed to us at all times.
In this Advent season, let us recommit ourselves and our hearts to the revelation of Christ. Let us open our eyes and see Jesus being revealed to us, see the beauty it is to be chosen!
