By Fr Antony Christy, SDB.
THE WORD IN ADVENT – Second week Wednesday
December 13, 2023 – Isaiah 40: 25-31; Matthew 11: 28-30
How do we prepare the Reign? By learning to empower, by learning to spot the absolute source of empowerment, the Lord himself. Preparing the Reign consists of empowering persons, in their state of confusion and discouragement, in their drooping state of mind, in their lowest moments of life. God has repeatedly revealed Godself, as the one who strengthens the weak. Look at the way God took sides according to the pages of the Old Testament, the same continues with Jesus.
Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened, calls Jesus to give them rest, the proportionate yoke, and the salvific burden. Jesus never said I shall give you money and prosperity and wellbeing, in the sense of how some preachers of the ‘prosperity gospel’ today claim and allure. Let us not exaggerate — neither a negative gloom nor an all-positive picturesque situation we have in our daily life. Each one has his or her share of burden, the right proportionate yoke, and we cannot negate it. If we cannot negate, it means each of us needs strengthening and empowerment. Hence the invitation today: learn to Empower.
To learn to empower, first and foremost, I need to learn to be empowered. ‘Come’, the Lord calls – do we hear that call? do we heed that call? do we let ourselves be empowered by the Lord and Shepherd? That is a prerequisite for us to learn to empower. To experience the empowerment of the Lord, to identify the unfailing source of empowerment in the Lord and to develop a ready reaching out to God when in need of empowerment are essential traits in which we need to grow before we learn to empower.
To learn to empower means that we represent the loving Shepherd to the other. It is a call to each and every one, and that is the key to the Reign. There is a mutual empowerment required and when that happens that we empower each other, the Reign of God is being prepared. Empowerment here is not any false promise; the Lord does not give any. It is not any exaggeration of great prowess. It is all about gentleness and humility — a restful replenishment of our spirits. We really do need to learn this from the Lord – in fact the Lord has that invitation too: learn from me.
To learn to empower is to recognise the constant source of empowerment that the Lord is and to become ourselves in any way we can, a source of empowerment to everyone around, so that by growing together stronger and firmer, we can prepare for the Reign.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He has completed his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.