Deacon Tom Writes,
Advent, Getting Right With God
“Repent, the kingdom of God is
at hand,” John tells us.
Repent from what? There was a book out in the ’70s that was very popular. It
was called, “I’m OK, You’re OK”
by Dr. Thomas Harris. Catchy title isn’t it! It gives us the sense that all is
well; we’re all OK: we don’t need any fixing. And, by the way, you are OK too!
Oh, if only that were true. I think we know in our hearts that nothing could be
further from the truth.
We are all sinners; we carry the scars and wounds of those numerous
times when we have wronged others and
ourselves by not living up to the to the high standards Jesus taught us. The
memory of those failures festers deep within our innermost being. Our psyches
are damaged as a consequence of the guilt those sins have spawned with us. We
have much need to repent, but our pride often gets in the way and prevents us
from coming to grips with the sinfulness of our thoughts, words and deeds, and
even for those things that we should have done but failed to do.
In search of a remedy to their troubled consciences, the people of antiquity
went out into the desert to hear John preach and to be baptized. In the
solitude and isolation of the stark desert, people were able to grasp the
notion that they needed to repent, to change the direction and focus of their
lives in order to experience a spiritual rebirth as children of God.
This awareness of our sinfulness for the wrongs we have done or the
good that we have failed to do is a prerequisite for us to prepare ourselves
for the coming of the Christ Child into our lives. We need to be like John who
testified, “I must decrease so He might
increase”, that is, we must empty ourselves of our own self-centeredness,
ambitions, and desires in order that we may be filled with the desire, the
willingness, and the passion to do God’s Will, to be the instrument of his joy,
peace, and hope in our world today.
These few weeks of Advent are a special time to reflect on the way we
treat others and ourselves. It is a time to get
right with God, to turn away from our sins and await the new life that God
has in store for us, an abundant life, and one that will last forever.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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