Deacon Larry

   

Thursday of the 2nd Week in Advent

Is 41: 13-20; Mt 11: 11-15

Dc. Larry Brockman

 “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence.”  That’s what we just heard.  Yes, indeed, you, the elect, those who have a grasp of the Kingdom of God, those who are committed to Jesus Christ, suffer violence in this world, just as Jesus could see the forces of evil marshalling against His disciples and Himself.  They were poised to do violence, and they did.  It will always be so in this world, because the Kingdom of God is not of this world. 

And so, expect it, expect the suffering that comes with the challenge of living in this world even as you are attached to the Kingdom.  The suffering is all around us in the form of sickness and infirmity; problems in relationships, job losses and economic difficulties and yes, even random acts of violence done to us.  None of us are exempt from the realities of suffering in this world. not even those who have all the money in the world.  The local news testifies to that.  We are like the people Isaiah speaks of in the first reading, “maggot Israel”- what a metaphor! 

Sometimes we feel like it too, for as Isaiah says: “The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain”.  And yet, we must never forget that the Lord is always there for us, and like anybody that is on a long journey, the goal is to get through all of the inconveniences, and yes, even sometimes pain, to get to the other side safely.  If we believe and trust in the Lord, then it will happen for us, and even as dramatically as Isaiah predicts this morning, because trusting in the Lord, all of us can experience the desert being changed into a marshland.   

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Holy Family Weekday Homilies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.