Advent Day 4: Our Lord and Savior

Posted on by

TODAY’S FIRST READING (Is 25:6-10a)

From Isaiah 25:9:

“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”

From The Navarre Bible: Major Prophets, page 128:

“[T]he Lord…is faithful; those who put their hope of salvation in him will never be disappointed…”

My take

Hear this sentiment from Isaiah echoed by Jesus in the last Beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:12):

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And I was surprised to find another connection to this phrase in Peter’s first letter (4:12-13 RSV):

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Note the common thread. The Lord has saved us, but only if we cooperate with the graces that come from the gift of redemption Jesus has won for all humankind. How do we do live this cooperation? Well, whatever happens during our time on earth, particularly when we are insulted and persecuted for living our Christian beliefs, and whatever share of Christ’s sufferings comes our way (check out Col 1:24), we are to rejoice and be glad in our brief sojourn here knowing that we will rejoice and be glad in the eternal bliss of heaven.

ADVENT RESOURCES

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS READING

Christ Rescuing Peter from Drowning (c. 1370) by Lorenzo Veneziano

God bless!

Leave a comment