Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
First Friday in Advent – December 06, 2024
Isaiah 29: 17-24; Matthew 9: 27-31
Our hearts bleed today when read those references today to Lebanon and its woes… because we are naturally led to connect it to the sad and treacherous happening of these days – be it in Lebanon, Syria or even elsewhere there, or around the planet. But this has been going on for centuries! Is there no stop to this? Violence, war, terrorism, rebellion, revenge, killing and destruction – will they never end? This reflection unfortunately coincides this day, with “the dark day” 22 years ago in India, a day which announced with a bang, the change of an era in this land of tolerance and secularism.
With all these working on our minds, it is very just to cry out to the powers out there in the society at large, who are determining this awful situation. But is that truly warranted, when we have so many issues to settle even within our small little societies, our families, our communities, and above all within ourselves – a situation of conflict and contestations, an indubitably peace-less experience.
The pilgrimage of hope invites us to see, to behold, to visualize the destination proposed to us, the Reign open to us, the Reign present amidst us, and grow into it. We are reminded that hopelessness is blindness, and we need to recover our sight, to behold the Reign. It is not that easy and those who do it are not always judged smart – they can be considered dreamers, delusive, “out of their minds”. But the challenge remains to stand firm in hope and visualize the destination, and behold the Reign that is there within us, to strengthen it, sustain it, promote it, grow it and present it to the world.
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.