LITANY OF RESCUE

Jeremiah 23:5-8; Ps 72 Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever; Matthew 1:18-25

We continue to through this octave before Christmas, it is a count down of sorts with the O antiphons.  Yesterday we encountered 'O wisdom" and today it is "O leader of the house of Israel giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai: come to rescue us with your mighty power!"

Advent is about realizing we need rescue.  We need saving.  Only when we embrace our neediness can we truly enter into the spirit of Christmas.  There is much about each us that is in need of transformation.  Perhaps today take a few moments and make a mental list of things that are out of whack in your life, things that need redeeming.  Let those become your Christmas offering to the Christ Child.

In the first reading today, JEremiah reminds the folks of his time that a litany of rescue will become the chorus line for Israel.  They will no longer just focus on the rescue from the land of Egypt but they will recall how God rescues them in the present age as well from their current oppressors.  We too can enter actions of God in a list of how he has rescued us in our present age. God's power to redeem is always contemporary with our current lived situation. Yes he brought them from Egypt.  Yes he rescued them from the people of the North.  Yes he rescued them from Babylon, Assyria and the Persians.

Even today God's redeeming actions continue to unfold for us daily.  Create a litany of God's rescue in your life.

Don't neglect JEsus in the manger.  This is the ground breaking event that enables us to be set free in each age, each moment, through all trials.  As Joseph experiences in his dream, this child shall save his people from their sins, he is God with us.  Thus begins the litany of rescue.  From the womb, to the manger, to Nazareth, to Galilee, to Calvary, to our homes and on our streets, the saving mission of JEsus continues to unfold.