Monday, December 11, 2017

Advent Reflection: December 11

Isaiah 35:1-10; Luke 5:17-26

While living in Rome I have come to appreciate the roof top gardens of many Italian homes.  Although mostly out of sight from the general populace, when invited to the terrace of an Italian home, the beauty of greens and flowers displayed there can be breathtaking.  Our own Generalate roof, although not as manicured as some roof top gardens, is the home of some flowering cacti.  They seem to reflect, “The desert … will exult … will rejoice and bloom.”  I had never realized how many cacti actually do bloom and how very beautiful they can be.

The desert is mostly perceived as barren, hot, sandy and unfriendly.  But today’s reading portrays the desert as filled with glory, splendor and having a highway called the “holy way.”  The reading gives a new perspective on the desert.

The reading from Luke also speaks of a “new perspective.”  Once again we find ourselves on a roof.  The friends of the paralyzed man find that they are unable to enter the house by a door.  So they will find a new way to approach Jesus, the Healer.

Both readings present us with an alternative way of thinking:  the desert can be a beautiful place if we look for the beauty.  Likewise, a deeper relationship with Jesus might be found in a new approach to prayer.

Mother Pauline herself found solace in the image of the desert, when on her investing day she wrote:  “It was He also who counselled the soul to disdain wealth, earthly affections and the following of one’s own will—all that, we must trust to Him alone.  He will guide us safely through this world and into eternal bliss.  ‘Who is she that cometh up from the desert, leaning upon her Beloved?’”

Where in my life must I look more deeply to find beauty and ultimately to find Jesus?

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