Long-Awaited Consolation

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.”

Luke 2:25

Have you ever waited for something to happen, maybe even prepared a long time for it? Maybe it was a vacation you saved up for and planned for months or even years. Perhaps a reunification with a friend or family member you have not seen in ages. For the righteous man Simeon, he was waiting for the “consolation of Israel” and the Holy Spirit told him that he would not die until he had seen the Christ, and the day finally came — the day Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the Temple.

This “Consolation of Israel” was the long-awaited Messiah who would save them from their suffering and persecution. For the Jewish People, the prophets reminded them time and again and God is faithful and that He will bring them out of slavery and into freedom and that there will be rejoicing once again (after the exile); however, not many of the Israelites remained faithful or trusted in the Lord, except for the “faithful remnant.” The descendants of this remnant would one day see this Messiah, and when the fullness of time came, God sent this “consolation of Israel” into the world for the salvation of souls, and this consolation was His very own Son.

Jesus is the consolation to the afflicted, the comforter to the persecuted, the light to those dwelling in darkness. Jesus is the long-awaited consolation of not just the Israelites, but of all peoples. Jesus is the answer to all our troubles, the hope in our despair, the joy in our sorrow, the light in our darkness, and the life in our death. Jesus has come to draw us to Himself so that where He is, we also might be, so that our sin remains no longer an obstacle to God, but that by His Cross and blood, we may come to share in His divinity. When in the depths of our hearts we search for meaning and for answers, and when we long for affirmation and love, although we may not know it, it is really Jesus whom we seek. This long-awaited consolation is in our midst, presented before us. Are we prepared to welcome Him into our hearts?

Watch this week’s reflection below.

Debuting the Glory of God

“As a young man marries a virgin,
   your Builder shall marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride
   so shall your God rejoice in you.”

Isaiah 62:5

If you were the Lord and was about to begin your public ministry, what would the first thing you do be? Maybe some big miracle or some extravagant sign to show that your power comes from the Father. But, for Jesus, He was a guest at a wedding and seemingly reluctantly performed His first miracle. They ran out of wine, and His Mother asked Him to do something.

Mary and Jesus were at a wedding in Cana and His disciples were there too. John tells us that this wedding happened on the “third day,” and it is not without reason. This concept of the “third” day can bring to mind several things — when Moses went up Mount Sinai, he was told that on the third day God will go down and appear before the people, showing His glory (cf. Ex. 19:11, 15, 16; Deut. 5:24). It also reminds us of the Lord’s glorious Resurrection from the dead. But this three can also mean something more — if we read John’s Gospel closely, we see that it was been four days already and this “third day” makes it the 7th day, alluding to creation in Genesis, reminding us that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and that all things were created through Him. In other words, John is telling us that Jesus is God, and what He was about to do at this wedding reveals His divinity.

When the wedding party realizes that wine is running out, Mary gets a wind of this and tells Jesus to which He gives a seemingly flippant response “How does your concern affect me?” Unlike most people, Mary did not get upset with Jesus and scold Him, rather like in all things, she probably pondered it in her heart, and then she told the servers, “Do whatever he tells you,” trusting that just like God has done in her entire life, He will realize His will when the time is right. Jesus orders the servers to fill the jars and in a most quiet way, He turns the water into wine. Just as Jesus provided for the wedding party, He will provide for us. At this wedding, Jesus turned water into wine, but at the heavenly feast, Jesus, the Bridegroom, shed His very own blood for His Bride, the Church, so that all might be saved.

Even when things seem impossible or when things are not going as planned, may we approach them with hope, heeding the call of Mary to listen to and to do whatever the Lord tell us for when we do, we will come to experience the glory of God, trusting that God is already, has always been, and will always be at work for our good.

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Affirmed in Love

“And a voice came from heaven, 
‘You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased.’”

Luke 3:22b

This great feast, the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the Christmas season. Although Jesus had no sin, He got baptized just like everyone else who waited in line before Him to be cleansed of their sins by John the Baptist. Jesus got in line. Like everyone else. Jesus became one of us, like us in all things but sin, to tell us “I AM with you.” In His baptism, Jesus shows us that He came to be one of us, to be with us in all things and to save us from our sins.

Upon rising from the water after Jesus was baptized, and as he was praying the voice of the Father said “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” and a dove, the Holy Spirit, descended upon Him. The Father, before all those present, affirmed the identity of Jesus: Son. And it is only after this affirmation did Jesus begin His public ministry, signifying that everything that the Son does is from the Father and is done with the Father in unity of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Son of the Father and the Father is pleased with Him.

Those very same words the Father says to us on our baptism day, we who are baptized into Jesus Christ, “You are my beloved son/daughter, and with you I am well pleased.” The Father is pleased with you. He loves you. He always has and always will. And this love is independent of anything we do or say. The Father is pleased simply in us; not the awards we achieved, the charity we have done, the people we have helped, the sacrifices we have made, God is simply pleased with you and loves you because you are you. Of course all those things are great and wonderful, but God does not love us more when we do those things or love us less when we do not. All of those good things we do, although when we do it, may make us feel as if God loves us more, do not make God loves us more, but rather we do those things because we know, either implicitly or explicitly, that God loves us. The good things we do really come from a place of gratitude because of the love of God we have experienced in our lives.

Just as Jesus only started His public ministry after this affirmation of identity by the Father, so too we must know who we are in God before we can go out and do the good that we know in our hearts. The Father speaks those words to us today, “You are my beloved, and with you I am well pleased.” Today may we, affirmed by God in His love, allow Him to penetrate our hearts so that we might come to live our lives in the manner Christ did — in the love of God, with the love of God, and moved by the love of God.

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