“My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people:” Luke 2:30-31
This passage from Luke goes hand in hand with Mark’s gospel for this weekend, “What I say to you, I say to all, “Watch!” (Mark 13:37) How often do we not see with our own eyes, the hurt, the pain, the suffering, the loneliness in the faces of those around us? How often do we shun our responsibility of assisting others in their need? How much attention do we give to spending sometime in Eucharistic adoration with our Lord and finding some quiet moments to spend with him among the hustle and bustle of buying gifts and putting up Christmas decorations? Do we really acknowledge those around us when we are glued to our television sets watching endless hours of sports or news or glued to our phones and not paying attention to those even in our own families?
The first verse of Greg Walton’s “Come to Us”, our communion hymn for each Sunday of Advent, gives us a chance to evaluate our character: “Scattered and broken, bent in our way, we are your people, gathered to praise you. A vineyard uprooted, narrow in sight, Come, Lord of Glory!, Come, Lord of Light”.
Let us let the light of Christ shine through our harden hearts and learn how to love this Advent and beyond.