With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings
You are my everything and I will adore you.
"The Revelation Song" performed by Philips, Craig, and Dean. (Based on the fourth chapter of the mighty Book of Revelation.) A long-time favorite song of mine; I'm a sucker for the harmonies.
And also for the message. Appropriate all year long and most especially on this last day of the year.
I'm leery of saying anything about 2023. The past 3 years have shown me, personally, that I need to stay in the present moment. Looking too far ahead will only set me up for disappointment - or worse.
Staying in the moment means letting God dwell in my heart. The thing I pray for most often and it is decidedly NOT easy to do. Speaking for myself - I am a planner. I plan all day long in my profession; I plan most of the time in my personal life as well.
So it remains quite the challenge for someone whose DNA is programmed to plan - to stay in the moment. I succeed maybe 5% of the time. :-)
Yet God has a larger plan for me - for all of us. Only he knows the depth and breadth of that plan. And while that can be utterly frustrating, I find when I do yield to God and let things unfold in his time - I am calmer. My ever-present anxiety settles down. The pace of the days also evens out a bit more. Things don't feel so frantic.
As another year comes to a close, I pray for God to continue to forgive me when I neglect to turn my cares to him. I pray for his wisdom to guide me thru my days. And I pray fervently that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns to Earth again - to put to right all the wrongs that man has wrought all over the world.
With the celebration of Christ's birth just one week away, I wanted to focus this week on Holy Mary's courageous "yes" to the Angel Gabriel. I know, I'm about 9 months late for this but as we have spent the last 4 weeks focusing on the coming birth of Jesus Christ, I thought a throwback to the origins of our Savior would be appropriate.
The first prophecy of The Messiah can be found as far back as Genesis, and throughout Old Testament Prophets like Nathan, Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. Through the Gospels in the New Testament. This miraculous coming is foretold so many times.
The how of it all is not revealed until the Angel Gabriel appears to a young, unassuming woman named Mary (The Gospel of Luke 1:26-38).
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee. The angel went to a virgin promised in marriage to a descendant of David named Joseph. The virgin’s name was Mary.
When the angel entered her home, he greeted her and said, “You are favored by the Lord! The Lord is with you.”
She was startled by what the angel said and tried to figure out what this greeting meant. The angel told her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will become pregnant, give birth to a son, and name him Jesus.He will be a great man and will be called the Son of the Most High The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. Your son will be king of Jacob’s people forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
Mary asked the angel, “How can this be? I’m a virgin.”
The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy child developing inside you will be called the Son of God.
Imagine it. You are a (roughly) 17 year old girl from a humble background, engaged to the man you love, and an angel tells you that you are pregnant. And not just pregnant, but with the savior of mankind.
All of this makes Mary's yes so remarkable. As a human being she had every right to say "Thank you but no thank you." As a faithful Jew however, having heard all the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, her yes was necessary.
In fact, her yes was foretold as often as the coming of The Messiah himself. It's a "built in" element of the stories.
All of which brings me to this glorious piece of music - Gabriel's Oboe by Ennio Morricone, composed for the 1986 film "The Mission".
One of the most famous songs in all of Morricone's film scores, Gabriel's Oboe is a device used for a missionary to call to, and convert, a jungle tribe.
It's long been a favorite piece of music. It's haunting melodies get under my skin and bring me to tears.
This year it appeared in a Pandora station of instrumental holiday music. I didn't think it really belonged there...yet it felt so right. I listened intently and heard the message God was sending to me.
Gabriel ... The Angel Gabriel ... The message to Mary.
Listen to those first notes from the oboe. Feminine, lyrical, soothing. The presence of an angel.
Then it builds, the higher notes expressing something that brings you to the heart. Mary's response.
Then the notes creep still higher as the heavens rejoice.
The melody repeats once again. Angelic encouragement. A demure yes. Rejoicing.
More rejoicing.
Then the strings take over to amplify the echoes of the heavens as the coming of the Messiah is physically assured.
I've heard this song hundreds of times. Always as the theme song from "The Mission".
Now I don't believe I will hear it as anything but the clarion call of God announcing the coming of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! -isaiah 35
Spending time today listening to Bishop Robert Barron's sermon about patience. His homily inspired me, touched me, and made me cry.
I'm doing that a lot these days.
As the great Bishop Barron says, Christians are a desert people. We wander thru a parched land - a land where the endless rhythm of life and death is witnessed every year. Where the spring rains bring a glorious blooming to a dry and weary land. Where summer's beating sun brings death once again. Only to yield once more to the spring rains...and on the cycle continues.
Our own human rhythm beats like that, doesn't it. We draw close to God, we bloom. Then we move about our lives until ... taking back the burdens we prayed for God to hold for us ... we turn back to the desolate lands once again.
Great Bible heroes spent time in the desert. Abraham. Joseph imprisoned. Moses 40 years wandering with the Israelites. John the Baptist the voice crying out in the desert. Paul in exile in the Arabian desert. And most importantly - Jesus spending 40 days/nights being tempted deep in the desert.
Each of these men emerged from the desert blooming with life.
I speak with my own impatience - why am I frustrated with my time in this desert when men (and women) far greater than I have done this and so much more. What right do I have to be discontented?
A trip thru the desert - a spiritual wilderness of our own making - can bring us back to basics. Extraneous things are stripped away, where we are stripped of our sinfulness and, hopefully, cleansed.
Bleak and dry periods. Times when darkness is visible (as the great novelist, Willian Styron, said about his own deep depression). This describes where I am about as perfectly as can be.
Dark. Bleak. Parched. Depression so deep it threatens to consume me. It obscures everything in front of, behind, and around me. This is always a tough time of year for me - has been for many years. Like many at the holidays, I know I'm not alone.
This is a time to be patient; and I am not a patient person. I've often said that instant gratification is not fast enough for me. Yet this period of Advent is a time of waiting, patiently, for our Savior to come to the world.
Maybe God has drawn me into my current desert to draw me closer to him; so I can learn to stop taking back my burdens, to allow him to be by my side - that indwelling I'm always going on about - for my own transformation.
Dear Lord, I am trying to be patient.
I'm waiting for my own great rain to bring me to full bloom.
a strong feeling of wanting to have something; wishing for something to happen
Do you desire Jesus? Does your heart ache for the need to welcome that in-dwelling?
Mine does. Every single day. No matter how much I pray I always want him. I could go to Mass everyday and still want to be in his presence more and more. I call to him all day long thru ceaseless prayer...
...and still my desire remains strong. Unending. Unyielding.
Where the flock in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.
Theirs is beauty’s fairest pleasure,
Theirs is wisdom’s holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own,
In the love of joys unknown.
My favorite holy Christmas song (and my favorite version). Where J.S. Bach expresses the desire to have Jesus in our lives. For his sacrifice only can we "drink of joy from deathless springs."
In my human-ness I wonder how God can possibly be there for all of us in our wanting, our grasping. Yet he is - even giving us the promise of that joy.
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
-Isaiah 40:3
The Prophet Isaiah's prediction here could be attributed to the coming of Jesus Christ. And while it certainly sounds like it - in this case it's not. Isaiah's announcement is very specific - make a path that is straight thru the desert.
The desert - while Jesus made many trips to and thru the desert during his brief ministry, there is only one who lived in the desert. Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist.
He who wore camel's hair clothing (in the desert...fur clothing...talk about suffering) and ate locusts (not a bad idea as they would have been packed with protein) and wild honey (keeping John healthier than his contemporaries). John lived off the land and for the land.
The land that was to come. Calling for people to make a straight path for the coming of Christ.
A straight path...in a desert. How does one do that exactly? No landmarks, some blowing scrubby bushes perhaps. But with footsteps disappearing as you move forward how do you keep your path straight? You can't trust your eyes; the haze of the heat will trick you. You can't trust your footsteps as they fade back into the endless sand.
Your trust is misplaced. The physical will not keep you on a straight path. God will keep you on a straight path. If you trust in him the paths you take thru life will unfold before you in beautiful harmony - straight, level, and narrow. So you always know where you are going.
We don't need to know what lies ahead, much as we in our human-ness would like to believe we do. Trust in God, turn to God, lean on God.
Talk with God! Notice it's not "to God". When we pray we are engaging in an otherworldly conversation with our great and awesome God. Open your heart and mind, tune out the cacophony of life that swirls around you - and truly hear God. Unburden your heart and mind to him, he doesn't need your prayers and he has already forgiven you before you even ask for it. He wants to hear your prayers, to be the vessel for your worries and concerns. To take in your gratitude and absolve you of your anxieties.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Make straight the path of God!
Bow down your head in prayer and thanksgiving. If you do just that - you are preparing a beautiful path for God to lead you on.
*Today's readings in the Roman Catholic Missal can be found here.
