November 26, 2021

St. John Berchmans, SJ

Lk 21: 29-33 

Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

What endures in my life?

So much happening in just a few lines from Luke’s Gospel.  Today’s passage is asking me to reflect on what endures in my life and what is passing.  Do I concern myself with what endures or what is momentary?  So often I am drawn to what is most expedient, the quick fix, always searching for the next “big thing.”  What’s behind that?  Do I find that to be life-giving and energizing or energy zapping?  Christ says his words will not pass away.  Where are Christ’s words embodied in the day-to-day events of my life, moments that speak of Christ’s presence?

Advent begins this Sunday.  As buds bursting open alert me to the coming of summer, what surrounds me letting me know that Christ is both bursting open in my life and coming more fully into my life?

—Tom Drexler is an alum of Marquette University High School and Creighton University. He is a member of the Advancement team at the Midwest Jesuits. 

 

 

Prayer

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

—Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ

Please share the Good Word with your friends!