In all my years I have never felt so great a need for a Savior to save us from ourselves. The cultural rot is so widespread as to infect every corner of humanity. Our global economy is based on debt that can never be repaid. Current US debt is $29 trillion. You can watch the debt clock spin adding roughly $2 million every minute. Politicians of every stripe and nation grovel at the whims of the elite “progressives” to gain approval rather than serve the needs of their constituents. Climate activists view the human population as the existential threat for planet Earth. They claim there are too many of us. The war in Ukraine has destabilized energy resources in Europe causing real concern that many may freeze this winter. In my local middle school children are indoctrinated in trans ideology. Medical facilities push “gender affirming care” for minors. The news is filled with stories of human trafficking, drug trafficking and the imminence of World War Three.
We have lies shamelessly proclaimed so often that we have forgotten what Truth is:
- The child in the womb is not a person.
- A man can become a woman merely by saying it is so.
- The Covid 19 vaccines are safe and effective.
- America’s southern border is secure
- Marriage is the state of being united as spouses in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law. The definition is broadened so widely as to include any number of persons in any possible gender combination.
The world is a mess and no human institution can fix the decay of our civilization.
Advent is the time when the Church waits for her Savior. We wait for the coming of Christmas and the celebration of the rescue plan God set in motion when he sent His Son to become man. Jesus took upon himself the sins of all mankind so that we might one day join Him in heaven.
We aren’t just celebrating an event in the past or some distant time when Christ will come at the end of the world. We are celebrating the hope of Christ coming to us today to save us from our sins. There are signs in scripture of Christ coming to usher in His kingdom and bring peace to the world. While many of the prophesies of Isaiah have been fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh 2000 years ago, this one is yet to be.
6 Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
7The cow and the bear shall graze,
together their young shall lie down;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
8The baby shall play by the viper’s den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.
9They shall not harm or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,
as water covers the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)
The Book of Revelation speaks of a time that has yet to seen when the devil will be unable to tempt the nations.
1Then I saw an angel come down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy chain.
2He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan, and tied it up for a thousand years
3and threw it into the abyss, which he locked over it and sealed, so that it could no longer lead the nations astray until the thousand years are completed. After this, it is to be released for a short time. (Rev 20:1-3)
In 1917 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children in Fatima, Portugal. In her third apparition in July, she made requests,
“I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.
When the Apostles asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, he replied:
9 “This is how you are to pray:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread;
12and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
13and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matt 6:9-13)
There are many other examples as well, but I point to these few to suggest that there is a promised time of peace that will come when the Divine Will is done on earth by mankind as it is in done in heaven. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God was at hand with his coming. Yet the past 2,000 years of history make it clear that his kingdom is not here in its fullness.
For me, Advent this year has been a period of yearning for that coming. Our world so desperately needs peace, healing wholeness, hope, truth and love. Come Lord Jesus and bring your reign of peace upon all mankind for it is impossible for us to accomplish it by ourselves.
Image is Our Lady of Fatima by Theophilia (used by permission)
https://www.deviantart.com/theophilia/art/Our-Lady-of-Fatima-709608850
You Are Loved 