The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will fulfill the promise
I made to the house of Israel and Judah.
Promise making and promise keeping are at the heart of the liturgical dynamic of the Advent Season that begins this weekend. The Church in the ancient rituals of this Season beckons us to remember the liberation promises that the Lord and His Christ have made and kept for his beloved people.
I’ve always loved the Advent Season with its carols that speak of longing and hope and the wreath that marks the passing of these weeks as we prepare for the remembrance of the Lord’s Incarnation in the lowly stable of Bethlehem.
The entire Hebrew scriptures with its bizarre twists and turns, fantastical stories of sin and grace, retribution and mercy, tells the story of promises made and kept. At the dawn of creation, when our first parents turned from the loving presence of the Lord of Creation and listened to the false promises of the tempter, God would not and could not abandon his promise to heal the wound of humanity.
After the great flood, Noah and his family saw the rainbow as a perpetual promise that never again would such devastation touch the human family.
The Advent Season remembers and celebrates the promise made and kept that God would ultimately reveal his presence in one like us, with all the vulnerability of a child whose arms would be cradled by his loving mother and, in time, would be stretched out on the wood of the cross for the liberation of humankind.
Sisters and brothers, as we remember and celebrate these promises made and kept by the God of mercy and unconditional love, let our hearts and lives overflow in gratitude for so great a grace and gift.
However, with these promises made and kept comes a responsibility that we too will be signs and instruments of God’s own promises made and kept as we work for justice, as we strive to be a people of compassion and mercy, as we work to live the Gospel we profess by both our words and deeds.