After the homily some photos taken on Thanksgiving morning.
__________________________________________________________
Jer 33:14-16
Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
1Thes 3:12-4:2
Lk 21:25-28, 34-36
Advent is not a time of waiting for. It is a time of coming to. Specifically it is a time of Christ Jesus
coming to, and coming into, our universe, our world, and, if invited, coming
into our individual lives. Advent is a
time of hope. It is a time of hope in
the promise that we hear for the first time in Exodus,
"You shall be my people
and I will be your God."
It is a time of hope in the promise of the parousia. Advent is the translation of the Greek word parousia, that means presence, and even
more specifically means "arrival."
We hear the promise reiterated in the first reading from
Jeremiah: "The days are coming when
I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah." Despite that promise of safety and security
for Judah, those to whom God made the promise turned away again and again,
forgetting all that He had done for them, ignoring the promise placing faith
only in their own selves. How very like
us today.
Today’s reading from Luke's Gospel is quite a contrast to
the exquisite opening chapters of Luke that gave us prayers that are recited
daily in the Liturgy of the Hours or the Divine Office:
The Benedictus:
"Blessed be the Lord,
the God of Israel;
he has come to his people
and set them free. . . "
The Magnificat
"My soul proclaims
the greatness of the Lord,
My spirit rejoices
in God my Savior . . . "
And the Nunc dimitiis:
Lord now you let your servant go in peace
your word has been fulfilled . . ."
And of course it is from the Luke's Gospel that we will soon
hear, "And it came to pass in
those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the
world should be taxed . . . "
What are we to make of the apocalyptic words we just heard? How do we interpret these passages that could
have been taken from the Book of Revelation?
What is Jesus saying to us? Context
is important. This particular passage of
Luke comes from the last half of Chapter 21.
Chapter 22 begins the narrative of the Last Supper.
Jesus isn't saying anything new here. He isn't saying anything that He hasn't
already said many times. He hints at the
parousia, the return of the Son of
Man, an event that will occur at an unknown time. And He cautions, as He did many times, against
being caught unawares, of not being prepared.
The imagery is vivid and even frightening. Signs in the heavens. Turmoil upon the earth. Dying of fright. And the Son of Man coming on a cloud. But we do not, we cannot, and we will not know
when, a fact that has not stopped doomsday preachers and others, from precise
calculations of the timing, and sometimes even the exact location,of the parousia.
Remember the insanity a dozen years ago when the "new
millennium" began? Remember the
prognostications? Many of them were
beyond bizarre, as were the individuals making them. People hung onto the words of self-appointed
evangelists and interpreters who were nothing more than amateur soothsayers of
the Chicken Little School of Divination spreading alarm, and perhaps reaping a
little profit—profit with an ‘f’ not a ‘ph’.
On their part the rapturists expected to be taken up bodily from a
hilltop or other location. It was major
craziness to be sure. A rule of thumb
is, the more specific the prediction as to the time, place, and other details of
the parousia, the more worthy it is
of either derision or, if you are so inclined, hysterical,
fall-on-the-floor-and-roll-around laughter.
Paul prescribes the antidote to scanning the heavens for the
signs of the parousia. That antidote is obvious in the second
reading. Increase your love for others. Be blameless in holiness. Conduct yourselves in the way of the
Lord.
Throughout the world the Society of Jesus is reflecting and
praying over a number of documents that emerged from a meeting in Nairobi,
Kenya over this past summer. Fr. General
Nicolas shared the following. A bishop
in Japan noted: Eastern spirituality is
a spirituality of the Tao, or, The Way. Western
Catholicism always speaks of "the truth.” But Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth,
and the Life. Fr. General concluded,
"We need all three."
As we begin this holy season and gaze at the single candle in
the Advent wreathe, a wreathe that will be fully lit before we have time to
catch our breaths, we are called to sing in gratitude with the psalmist:
"Your way, O Lord, make known to me
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me. . .
All the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy
toward those who keep his covenant. . .”
__________________________________________________________
I left Weston around 11 AM on Thanksgiving to drive to Marblehead, traveling on 1A along the coast rather than the ever dreadful 128/I-95. As I did last year, I stopped in both Lynn and Swampscott along the water to take photos. The sun was brilliant, causing a lot of glare reflecting off the water. This is where computer processing came in handy. Some of the photos below are "befores" and others are "afters"
The first is a close-up of autumn leaves against a clear blue sky.
Now a before and after. The couple was standing along the railing in Lynn. I was using the tripod and about 256 mm of telephoto but shooting into the bright reflection of the noon sun off the water. The after was pushed as far as it could go, converting it to black and white and pushing the contrast as far as possible to erase the background. I like the graphic result.
Two guys were going surfing in wet suits. The top photo is unprocessed. The second is the same thing with the saturation of the water enhanced.
+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
No comments:
Post a Comment