Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - December 10th 2017

Advent 2.

There is always a problem with our capacity for receiving and transmitting news, partly because we have to sift out what the facts are, learn to ignore the more sensationalist points of view and, horror of horrors, try to discover the truth. It is unfortunate that we are in thrall to the media, and lack discernment, made worse by our immediate access through iPod and phone, radio and television. We could of course ignore what is going on, but such is the persuasive hold of our information driven society, we seem unable to discipline ourselves to at least shut down their distracting voices for a period of time each day.

And yet we need information and the ability to articulate it correctly, for our faith is built upon communicating the Good News, Christ is himself the Word made flesh, that Divine sound which through the Spirit brought about creation and speaks in our hearts. Throughout Scripture the voice of God is heard and mediated in the life of people, but it is also frequently distorted by our sinful perceptions and lack of perception. That's why in the clamour of our own age, when competing voices make it difficult to understand quite what is happening in our lives, discernment is necessary.

John the Baptist discerned well, he saw beyond the immediate and obvious in order to prepare a way for truth. He knew just how far his people had strayed from what we can call righteousness. It may not be a fashionable word, but it's a good one because it's a name we give to show how God really is, the just one, who acts with justice and truth. Rejecting the corruption of people in high places, John 's voice cuts through the rubbish, proclaiming above all baptism for repentance and forgiveness of sins. John is the preparer, what we also call the Herald, he gives us one directive: 'prepare the way of the Lord'.

It is interesting to speculate on how we might have found John, noisy, odd, and disturbing? For a lot of the time he was a brooding presence, challenging those whose life styles were built and rooted in the mire and muck of 'fake news'. Maybe that's what we should be?

We have quite difficult choices ahead of us as people of faith. Isaiah tells us that one part of our calling is to give comfort to people, another is to remind ourselves to be patient, to carry on being heralds of truth, for we know that;"…the day of the Lord will come like a thief… and the earth and everything done on it will be found out. (2 Pt 3:10). Yes, before God, all will be known and Truth will out! When we next listen to people who should know better, telling us lies, and yes, we can discern that they may be, look at the fruits of what they do, does it bring comfort? Does it lead us to true repentance and forgiveness; does it make straight the way of the Lord? If not, like John, turn away and instead keep to the Gospel path, as Peter writes: "Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace."(2 Pt 3:14)

Lectio Divina

Advent: Hope or Delusion? Excerpt from an Essay by Thomas Merton

'The advent mystery focuses the light of faith upon the very meaning of life, of history, of man, of the world and of our own being. In Advent we celebrate the coming and indeed the presence of Christ in our world. We witness to His presence even in the midst of all its inscrutable problems and tragedies. Our Advent faith is not an escape from the world to a misty realm of slogans and comforts which declare our problems to be unreal, our tragedies inexistent…

In our time, what is lacking is not so much the courage to ask this question as the courage to expect an answer…We may at times be able to show the world Christ in moments when all can clearly discern in history, some confirmation of the Christian message. But the fact remains that our task is to seek and find Christ in our world as it is, and not as it might be. The fact that the world is other than it might be does not alter the truth that Christ is present in it and that His plan has been neither frustrated nor changed: indeed, all will be done according to His will. Our Advent is a celebration of this hope.'

Fr Robin is an Eastern Rite Catholic Chaplain for Melkites in the UK. He is also an Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church, Oxford