Waiting and Walking Together in Hope
BY JACK MCLINDEN, S.J. | December 4, 2023
Sunday’s Readings
At the beginning of the Advent season, we return once again to a season of waiting for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. These days it feels like we are waiting for so much—an end to war in areas of armed conflict, substantial action to address the climate crisis, gun control laws to protect the innocent, especially our children. The prophet Isaiah says in today’s reading, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down…” We long for God’s intervention into these seemingly intractable injustices in our world.
[Photo Credit: Brooke Anderson]
Today’s readings can be an invitation to contemplate our own role in the problems we are facing, how we have been affected, and how we are called to respond. How have we played a role in, or experienced, the root causes of poverty and racism in our society? How is God calling us to respond? Our waiting is not one of passively accepting the status quo until things get better. We are called to wait in hope and to act with justice until the coming of the Prince of Peace.
Jack McLinden, S.J., is a Midwest Jesuit in formation currently studying at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California. Jack is an intern with Faith in Action East Bay and a ThM student at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies in New Orleans.
How is God calling us to respond?
To unite in prayer with the Palestinian people. If despite the devastation around them, they can still believe in hope that in the end peace will prevail. Then so can we. It takes the united efforts worldwide to pray for peace and believe that peace is possible. It will not come from waiting for a miracle from God. Peace will come because we all believe that it is possible to live in harmony with each other and lovingly care for our planet together.
My deceased husband and I had a discussion concerning war. He said he could never imagine killing someone, especially one you don’t even know. He was a peace-loving person in all respects who could find something good about everyone. My sons are like that too.
My job now is to continue to move toward that peace by the way I am with people and their needs. In my interactions with people I don’t know, I ask myself what is their purpose or meaning in life and how can I support what is important to their understanding of God in their lives?
I know that when I speak with a person who cares about the issues in Laudato Si, I feel a close kindred in what they are trying to accomplish and I join with them to get it accomplished for all of us. Recently, I was doing a ride share with a person who wanted to talk about the fact that he takes a Huber instead of driving in order to save money on resources for himself and others. Little by little we can make this a planet of peace and goodness.
Accepting the status quo with our boots on cannot be our way of proceeding. Nice one Jacky.