Daily Reflection – Dec 15, 2018

Saturday 15 December 2018

First Reading: SIR 48:1-4, 9-11
Responsorial Psalm:
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
PS 80:2AC AND 3B, 15-16, 18-19
Gospel Reading: MT 17:9A, 10-13

Today’s Note: Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

Gospel Reading:

As they were coming down from the mountain,
the disciples asked Jesus,
“Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things;
but I tell you that Elijah has already come,
and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. 
So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.”
Then the disciples understood
that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

Reflection:

Elijah is to come to see that everything is once more as it should be. MT 17:11

As Jesus was about to begin his public ministry, it must have been reassuring to know that the hearts of the people had been prepared by St John the Baptist – the Elijah who was to come. It must have been a great comfort and a source of encouragement for Jesus to know that someone had gone before him to prepare the way for him.

And likewise, if we are considering a vocation, whatever that vocation might be, or if we are considering getting involved in some sort of charity work, it is reassuring for us to know that someone has gone before us to prepare the way for us. It might be a good person who had the insight to set up a charity in order to meet the needs of a particular group of people. It might be a great saint who founded a religious order or whose example we simply wish to follow.

Ultimately, it is Jesus Christ who has gone before us. We are called to recognise this and to place our trust in Christ – that somehow the hearts of other people will be ready so that we might make a difference in this world even if we don’t always  see the fruits of our hard work.

But as well as recognising that Jesus has gone before us in the things we do, we are also called to recognise that Jesus has gone before us in our pilgrimage through life in order to prepare a place for us in the life to come: “To see that everything is once more as it should be.”

Lord, help me to see that you have gone before us so as to deepen my trust and my faith in you. Amen.