Keeping Advent 5: Location, Location, Location

December 5/First Thursday of Advent

The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.   ~ Matt 7.25

Anyone who lives in a hurricane-prone coastal plain, as I do, is well acquainted with the destructive power of the rain, the floods, and the wind.  In major storms, houses that are unwisely situated or built on flimsy pilings are not only shaken and stirred, they can be completely destroyed.   When it comes to building a life that will withstand the storms, we must also start with a firm foundation.  Christ tells us exactly how to erect that foundation: by listening to him.  If we pay attention to what he is telling us both through his words and through his life, death, and resurrection, we will be building on unshakeable ground.  But if we consider ourselves the authorities on where and how to construct our lives, we may be forced to watch as the shaky structures we’ve built teeter, totter, and collapse when the wind picks up and the rain pours down.  “Unless the Lord builds the house,” Psalm 127 tells us, “those who build it labor in vain.”  Sometimes the plans God has for us seem contrary to what we want to do, or even what we think we ought to do.  Edith Stein, the German Jewish convert to Catholicism who perished at Auschwitz as a Carmelite nun, acknowledged this disconnect in her own life, writing, “What was not included in my plan lay in God’s plan.”   In this season of Advent, may we intensify our prayer and reflection as we seek to ground ourselves ever more firmly upon the word and the will of God.

Faithful Lord, give me an attentive heart to hear your word and unshakeable courage to enact your will.  Amen.

For today’s readings, click here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120519.cfm