Wednesday, December 21, 2011

According to Your Word - December 21st of the Advent Season

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Song 2: 8-14; Lk 1:39-45)

“O Radiant Dawn,
Splendor of eternal light,
Sun of justice:
Come shine on those
who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.”

– “O” Antiphon for December 21 –


It is the month of August [2003] as I write this. The New York Times this morning reported that 95 people were killed by a car bombing in Iraq. As I look out over Lake Howell at San Pedro Center [Winter Park, FL] and see the sun dancing behind clouds, I think of this valley of darkness and the shadow of death.

George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, reported a vision wherein he saw a vast sea of darkness covering the earth. This frightened him, until he saw that over the sea of darkness flowed an even greater sea of light. At Bethlehem, over 2,000 years ago, a shaft of that light burst through that sea of darkness, “and the darkness did not overcome it.” Oh, how hard it is, in a world of such evil to realize that evil has already been conquered! That is the truth about Advent. We do not wait for promises to be fulfilled; we celebrate their fulfillment. The Father’s Kingdom will come and, in fact, it has already.

We pray that the “Peace on Earth” that we sing about every Christmas will become reality. All it will take is for each person to wake up and smell the poinsettias. How can you bring the peace of Christ into your life and the lives of each person you meet?

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