“Justice shall flourish…”

Advent is a season of great hope, expectation and promise.  Just as the Jewish people waited for the Messiah who had been promised across the centuries, so too, we await our remembrance at Christmas the birth of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  But this waiting doesn’t mean just sitting back and doing nothing.

In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah there is a very hopeful vision of what the coming of the Lord will bring to all peoples.  In particular the Lord will bring “righteousness” and the poor and the meek will be looked after.  But there is a warning for the wicked.  “…with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

There is a beautiful prediction of peace, expressed in poetic terms.  “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat…”  Even by the usual standards of our planet, by all accounts we are going through a time of increased war and conflict.  How badly the promised peace is needed.

But we have our parts to play.  This weekend at masses, we are going to be visited once again by Fran Lawson from Mary’s Meals who is going to update us about Ibundya School in Malawi which we are supporting now for the third year.  To date we have raised about £20,000.00 to help the 435 children there receive a school meal every day so that they can remain in education.

I am sure that this is a time of year when we are thinking about the gifts that we will be giving to our families and friends.  We may well gift-wrap them nicely or put them in special gift-boxes.  Once again, the Mary’s Meals gift-boxes will be available in both churches and once again I ask you to take one (even if you have done so before) and make an Advent offering so that we can help to bring about the justice promised by the prophet Isaiah.  

God bless, Fr Kevin.