“SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER”
Daily Spiritual Reflections
7th December 2021
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TUESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Memorial of St Ambrose, Bishop & Doctor
Is 40: 1-11; Ps 96: 1-3,10-13; Mt 18: 12-14
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COMFORTER OF THE AFFLICTED
“What would Jesus have said?” was the question in the mind of the Carmelite saint, Teresa of Los Andes, when she wanted to chastise the naughty children. She was not much older than these children. So, what did she do? She forgave and comforted the children with the love of God that filled her heart.
This is the kind of comfort through forgiveness that God is offering the Israelites, through his chosen prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament. There was good reason to illustrate God’s relationship with mankind in scriptures, through the analogy of the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. It was an illustration people could easily identify with in their cultural context. God promises that he himself will be the shepherd and will seek them out. God does not stop with the Israelites. What he offered to them is only a foretaste of what he has planned for the redemption of humankind, through the crucifixion and the resurrection of his only begotten son, Jesus.
Jesus makes life easier for us when he explains how God rejoices when one sinner returns to his bosom, despite there being so many more who have not gone astray. In fact, it is no surprise that Jesus treats us like little naughty but innocent children, and definitely not like how a sinner would be treated by the standards of the world. Jesus re-emphasizes the will of God the Father when he declares, “It is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.” St Paul would reiterate this. “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all” (Titus 2:11). “God our Saviour desires everyone to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4).
Moving on, God entreats Isaiah to speak tenderly to Jerusalem, just the way he pardons their iniquities. Do we realize that we have a loving God who is always waiting with his steadfast love to forgive and comfort all sinners? Let us ask God the Father the grace to accept his gift of forgiveness through his son Jesus.
Response: The Lord our God comes with might.
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