1 Thessalonians, 5, 1-8, 23, 24
About time spans and right moments, dear brothers,
I have no need to write to you. You know very well yourselves that the Breaking
of the Day of Christ comes like a thief in the night. When people say, ‘Now
peace reigns, and all stands secure, then suddenly catastrophe breaks upon
them, like the birth pangs of a woman with child, and there will be no escape
for them.
You, however, dear brothers, are not to remain in
darkness, so that the breaking of day will not surprise you like a thief. For
you are sons of light and sons of the day. Our being is not filled with night
and darkness. So let us not sleep like the others, but rather cultivate an
alert and sober state of mind. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who
are drunk are likewise of nightly nature. But since we belong to the brightness
of day, let us be sober, clothed with the breastplate of faith and love, our
head armed [protected] with the hope of healing….May God himself, however, the
source of all Peace, hallow and heal your whole being. May your complete and
undivided being,
Spirit
Soul, and
Body
remain pure and unclouded at the coming in the
spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You may trust in him who calls you. He it is
who also lets you reach the goal.
3rd Advent
December 16, 2012
1 Thessalonians 5:1-8 and 23, 24
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| Birth of the Light, Roland Tiller |
The darkness of night hides what is happening on earth. And
the darkness of our unawareness hides processes that may be gestating quietly
below the surface. And just as the inevitable rising of the sun reveals the
myriad majesties of the earth, so too does the rising light of the Christ-Sun
work to reveal our secret selves, what we are laboring to become, whether for
good or for ill.
Today’s reading suggests that there are processes in the
world that are generating what appear to be catastrophes. Yet Paul compares
them to the inexorable onset of a pregnant woman’s labor, which heralds a new
birth.
So also are there such events in our souls. There are
seeming catastrophes in our lives that may have been gestating quietly beneath
the surface of our awareness. Yet even here, something wants to be born in us
through such events. What wants to be born is our awareness and trust in a
beneficent Providence; an admiration and love for our own God-given destiny; a
compassionate love for the destinies of others; and a healing of our destinies
through the pangs of conscience.
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