- Feb 5, 2002
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There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.
As a young priest at my first parish, I would regularly go into the grade school classrooms on the morning after a television show entitled something like “Ancient Prophecies” regularly aired. And no matter what our topic was, our conversation would inevitably turn to what the students had watched the night before and the sensationalistic manner in which passages from Scripture were supposedly predicting an immediate and cataclysmic end to the world. And yet, in our opening collect, I prayed the words, “Grant your faithful, we pray, Almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet the Christ with righteous deeds at his coming.”
But what is it that can give us this resolve? What is it that can allow us to ignore the sensationalism and fear-mongering offered by the doomsayers of popular culture? What is it that can allow us as believers to set ourselves apart from unbelievers, whose only hope is in this world, so that we are able to stand up straight and to raise our heads in joyful expectation of our redemption?
Continued below.
Run Forth to Meet Christ: A Reflection for the Upcoming First Sunday of Advent - SpiritualDirection.com
As a young priest at my first parish, I would regularly go into the grade school classrooms on the morning after a television show entitled something like “Ancient Prophecies” regularly aired. And no matter what our topic was, our conversation would inevitably turn to what the students had watched the night before and the sensationalistic manner in which passages from Scripture were supposedly predicting an immediate and cataclysmic end to the world. And yet, in our opening collect, I prayed the words, “Grant your faithful, we pray, Almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet the Christ with righteous deeds at his coming.”
But what is it that can give us this resolve? What is it that can allow us to ignore the sensationalism and fear-mongering offered by the doomsayers of popular culture? What is it that can allow us as believers to set ourselves apart from unbelievers, whose only hope is in this world, so that we are able to stand up straight and to raise our heads in joyful expectation of our redemption?
Continued below.
Run Forth to Meet Christ: A Reflection for the Upcoming First Sunday of Advent - SpiritualDirection.com
