Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
Second Tuesday in Advent – December 10, 2024
Isaiah 40:1-11; Matthew 18: 12-14
At times in the name of peace, we play the game of closing our eyes. It is like when we wish to urgently clean a surface, we push the rubbish under the rug and make everything appear neat on the floor. That cannot be peace. When we have a problem, the solution is not, to do away with all those who seem to be creating the problem. The solution would be to find out what really is the problem and what could be the right way of solving it. That alone can lead us to true and lasting peace.
The Lord never rejects us just because we are problematic, or because we are unfaithful or faint hearted. The Lord goes on trying with us endlessly; the Lord never grows tired of being merciful or of consoling us. In spite of knowing how fragile and vulnerable we are, we go on with our haughtiness! But the Lord never gives up; like a shepherd feeding his flock, the Lord gathers us in his arms and leads us to rest.
That is the peace we are promised. That peace will come only when we decide to come back to the embrace of the Lord. The Lord shall never forsake us, nor reject us. But we need to come back to the Lord, when we stray away from him; we need to get back to the bosom of the shepherd, like the sheep that lost its way. Then there shall be peace.
Peace would not come into a house, or a family, or a community, by trying to eliminate the one causing the problem, we do not arrive at peace! It is the same with our selves too – by eliminating or hiding or repressing that part of ourselves which causes problem, we do not grow up to the salvation promised by the Lord. The Lord calls us to an integral conversion, a total transformation after the heart of the Lord – from where our peace shall come!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005 and has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (specialisation in Catechetics). He has a Doctorate in Theology with specialisation in Catechetics and youth ministry at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the young towards a World of Peace and dialogue is the passion that fires him.