ADVENT MEDITATIONS: Saturday 3 December
PSALMS: am: 96 pm:50:1-4
OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus 3:5
EPISTLE: Ephesians 1:16-20
GOSPEL: St Luke 12: 32-40
SATURDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT: FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER, Missionary to India and Japan, 1552 – The first Jesuit missionary and the prototype who inspired many men to enter the Society of Jesus and evangelize far off nations. Francis was one of the original members of the group of seven men who founded the Jesuits.
MEDITATION – The lessons today come from the Latin Rite Lectionary for the feast of Francis of Xavier. They remind us that his life like our season of Advent is about hope. One of the three great virtues: faith, hope and love. Faith leads to hope and hope leads to love. Our world needs hope very desperately! We need to believe that this world with all it brokenness, violence and lack of opportunity and freedom, – can be quite different. And that is what Christ comes to bring. A new world, a world transformed. A world we can hope in and a world we can help bring into being, because we know it does not and will not be like this. It was that conviction of the salvific promise and Advent hope that compelled Francis Xavier five centuries ago to commit to mission work and still compels people of all ages and walks of life to take on mission activity locally and globally, long term and short term. So how do you see this Advent hope becoming revealed in your life? Who could be the beneficiaries of hope in Christ Jesus from you? Family? People you work with? Friends? Where is the hope that fuels the passion for mission in your life right now! How do you see it growing stronger over these next few weeks of Advent, in order that Christ can come at Christmas!
PRAYER: Gracious God in this Advent Season, keep us mindful of those who do not know Your Son, Jesus, or about His great love for each one of us. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we may be courageous missionaries of the “Good News” now and all during our lives. Amen
SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE /ACTIVITY – Read again Matthew 28:18-20 and consider that when we pray, or offer personal sacrifices (such as giving up something they enjoy for the benefit of others), we are living out what Jesus asks us all to do in that Gospel passage. Through prayer and sacrifice, we take the first steps at being missionaries. Using clear plastic (or glass) ornaments; acrylic paint (blue, green, brown and black), paintbrushes, smocks, and newspaper (to cover the painting surface) make Christmas ornaments that resemble the earth with these words written across the ornaments: “Go and make disciples of all nations.”, making one for yourself and another for a person you think is ready for mission!
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “For from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the word of God; and we who formerly used to murder one another do not only now refrain from making war upon our enemies, but also, that we may not lie nor deceive our examiners, willingly die confessing Christ. For that saying, ‘The tongue has sworn but the mind is unsworn,’ might be imitated by us in this matter — St Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 39
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