Monday Message, December 13, 2021
KNOW
This week please join us for the conversation on gender identity. Roy Petitfils will lead our discussion at St. Catherine of Siena in Trumbull on December 14th from 9 am until 12:30 pm. Email institute@diobpt.org to sign up. For complete details, see memo for gender identity conversation.
If you do not yet have tickets for Chris Stefanick’s visit to the diocese, there is still time. See this link for more information.
The Clergy Check In scheduled for this week is cancelled.
This will be the final Monday Message until the new year. May this season of hope bring you and your family the peace you so richly deserve.
REFLECT
We believe that God created the world. We believe that Jesus redeemed us by his dying and rising. We believe that the Spirit came upon the Church at Pentecost. We also may regard all of these divine actions as finished once and for all. How then do we see God’s ongoing presence in the world? Sunday’s Scripture makes God’s presence an occasion for gratitude and joy.
Zephaniah preached in the southern kingdom of Judah between 640 and 630 B.C. The country was suffering moral decay. The prophet condemned the people but also offered hope. The presence of Yahweh will banish fear. The presence of the Lord will provoke a call to the renewal of mutual love.
The responsorial psalm comes from the twelfth chapter of Isaiah. The author expounds a theology of divine presence. Fear and panic must yield to trust. He speaks of the well, a typical place for remembering Yahweh’s deliverance (see Judges 5:11). The people will experience God’s saving presence there.
Luke presents two dimensions of the Baptist’s preaching: ethical and messianic. On the ethical side, John addresses the crowds, the tax collectors, and the soldiers. His message is one of concern for others. Under the messianic dimension, Luke offers a theology of presence — Jesus is bearer of the Spirit.
Creation, Incarnation, and Pentecost are ongoing realities for the modern believer. The Christian who overcomes despair assists God in a new Creation. The Christian who reaches out to the lowly continues the Incarnation. The Christian who restores life to the despondent shares in the eternal Pentecost.
LAUGH
