Readings (Year C)
Zephaniah 3:14–18
Isaiah 12:2–6
Philippians 4:4–7
Luke 3:10–18
Reflection: The world transformed
“I Won’t Complain,” a song popularized in the African American heritage of sacred music, captures our experiences of joy and gladness on the one hand, anguish and lament on the other hand. The first two stanzas read:
I’ve had some good days
I’ve had some hills to climb
I’ve had some weary days
And some sleepless nights
But when I look around
And I think things over
All of my good days
Outweigh my bad days
I won’t complain
In the middle of Advent, a liturgical season of anticipation and hope, it may strike you as odd that we speak of “weary days” and “sleepless nights.” Yet, as the readings from Zephaniah and Luke make clear, the promise of salvation—healing, wholeness—doesn’t simply happen to us. It is a striving. As a religious concept and a human reality, salvation signifies that the sacred and the human are always intertwined.
John the Baptist, the patron saint of Advent, points the way to Jesus’ mission of salvation, announcing that the reign of God is here and now, but not yet. In the gospel setting, crowds are listening to the prophet and asking him, “What then should we do?” (Luke 3:10). If we pay attention, John the Baptist invites us to receive the “one mightier than I [who] is coming” (Luke 3:16).
In this time of Advent, the desert prophet is not calling us to a mere birthday party. Rather, he is calling us to receive the gift of repentance in light of individual and social sin. It’s an invitation to turn away, to begin again, to redirect our attention to conform to the love of God, to the love of humanity, to the love of all creation. The biblical tradition has something to offer us in discerning both what salvation offers and how to achieve it through courageous actions.
The prophet announces that the world is being transformed. Do you hear it? Do you see it?
As a religious brother-educator, I strive to hear and see my unique purpose and call to understand teaching and learning as a fundamentally prophetic, emancipatory act. In the Lasallian tradition of Christian education and evangelization, we inherit from our founder, Saint John Baptist de La Salle, a theological insight that the Christian school is a sign of Jesus’ liberating salvation. To prosper the work of salvation requires a bold commitment for the long haul—a commitment rooted in Christian hope.
Here these words from Isaiah: “God indeed is my salvation; I am confident and unafraid. . . . With joy you will draw water from the fountains of salvation” (Isaiah 12:2–3). Read it a few times. God was at work in the prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist. God is at work in Pope Francis who summons us to situate the entirety of our life as mission. Let us transform the world by drawing fresh water from the springs of salvation through Jesus Christ.
“But when [we] look around and [we] think things over” about the Advent mystery in our own lives, we can echo Paul the Apostle, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).
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