Thursday of the First Week in Advent, Dec.7, 2006

Scripture: Isaiah 26:1-6. Psalm 118. Matthew 7:21,24-27: Trust is very important in any love relationship. This is especially true in our relationship with God and with Jesus. The readings for today led me to reflect on the importance of trust which is similar to our absolute commitment in faithful love to Jesus (a key theme of the Johannine literature). Then as I read Isaiah this morning, I was led to think of Mary the Daughter of Zion who trusted in the message given by Gabriel to her. She risked everything with that act of trusting love and thus became the Mother of the Messiah, Jesus. Both the Advent Prophet Isaiah and the Virgin Mary are our witnesses to what Advent means. We will continually hear from Isaiah, while Mary will be remembered at specific times during this Advent journey of trust, faith, and love. Trust means patient waiting, loving endurance, and communication with the person of God and Jesus. The Scriptures are actually our connection in this communication and they become for us the topics of our conversation with the Lord our God. Isaiah and Mary are our personal guides for developing these lines of communication. With them we learn how to risk letting go of our own plans, our own desires and letting those of God be our source for love during this holy season. Recently, I witnessed a wedding which was carefully planned. The bride and groom had chosen today's passage from Matthew. I had never been asked to look at that passage for a wedding, nor do I remember any other couple to have chosen this selection from Matthew. They insisted and I then was able to think about it and realize that this was for them an entrustment in love. They, do to the nature of his being a baseball pitcher, would have to be separated from months at a time. He was the one who chose this passage which speaks of building on a rock foundation. For her, he is her rock of security for the future foundation of their family. They both had not only carefully planned this wedding, they made it a public sign and covenant of their trust that their love with the Presence of God within it would endure like a solid rock. I learned much from this young handsome groom and this beautiful bride. They had understood what Jesus' parable was all about. Amen.