By Fr Antony Christy, SDB.
THE WORD IN ADVENT – Second week Thursday
December 14, 2023 – Isaiah 41: 13-20; Matthew 11: 11-15
How do we prepare the Reign? By learning to respect the other, by learning to respect every one, by learning to respect each one for what they are at their core! Every society has its own prefixed notions, as to who has to be respected and who no, as to who has to be regarded more and who less, as to who is more important and who is less. At times, we are schooled into it, knowingly or unknowingly. It is important, in the eyes of the Lord, to subject this kind of stereotyping to a critical judgement.
We see a rather shocking beginning to the first reading today, when the Lord (in Isaiah’s words) calls Jacob a worm, and Israel a puny mite! It may look like a degrading of the people, but the very next sentence explains to us the real sense. “I will help you… the Holy One is your redeemer”… that the Lord chooses Jacob, that the Lord calls Israel as God’s own. They will soon turn into a threshing sled, powerful and strong. The message is simple: however insignificant they are, the Lord is with them, and that makes them truly great and respectable.
We see another startling fact in the Gospel when Jesus says, John the Baptist is the greatest of all born of women, but the least in the Reign is greater even than he is! Jesus is teaching us about the true greatness – it lies in belonging to the Reign! Not in holding on to the name and fame, the power and position, the possessions and pleasures here on earth — which may be attained by such arduous and esteemable effort, but in belonging to the Reign, in belonging to the Lord — where our real and true dignity lies.
The secret of preparing the Reign lies in knowing and recognizing this fact – the fact of the dignity and respect that comes from God. That is what we are at the core – every one of us is created in the image and likeness of God, and we are called to recognize this image and likeness in the other, without fail. The moment we fail to recognize it in the other, we fail to realize it within ourselves; thus, we even lose the image and likeness that is at the core of ourselves. Can we be truly sons and daughters of God then? Can we truly belong to the Reign then?
Preparing the Reign involves recognizing the presence of God at the core of every ‘other’, and respecting them for that – not going by externalities and appearances, social prejudices, and cultural divides. Every person is to be respected and revered as a son and daughter of God and as a member of the Reign, and that is the way we prepare 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.