Today's Thoughts...

​Today’s Thoughts: There is a very challenging quote from St. Oscar Romero that might help us reflect on our Advent readings today. St. Oscar Romero said, "Those who want to bear the mark of the Spirit and the fire that Christ baptizes with must take the risk of renouncing everything and seeking only God's reign and justice." Do we truly want to bear the marks of being a Christian people? Do we want to bear the marks of Elijah, John the Baptist and Jesus from our readings today? Do we want to be a people of Life?
 
Both of today’s readings seem to highlight the prophet Elijah – the first emphasizing his miraculous deeds, and the second (in the person of John the Baptist), his murder by the powers that run the world. This might seem a strange emphasis just 10 days shy of Christmas, so it’s helpful to recognize that, like Elijah, Jesus was a prophet – in fact the last and the greatest of the prophets. We’ve called Him many things, “Savior”, “teacher”, “Son-of-man”, “Messiah”, but St. Luke, particularly, stresses that Jesus was first and foremost a prophet, the last in a line of individual prophets.
 
Some describe a biblical prophet as, “one who comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.” We can be comforted by the words of Elijah John the Baptist and Jesus today, but they can also be disturbing words when put into the context of the words of Oscar Romero. Are we ready to bear their marks? Are we ready to live by their word?
 
Have a great Saturday everyone!