Advent is listening

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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Second Week of Advent, 15 December 2023
Isaiah 48:17-19 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 11:16-19

How funny, O God,
at this Season of Advent
we listen to every Christmas carol
over and over again
and yet miss your Son Jesus Christ
in the end?

Everyone loves the tune
and the voice of Bing Crosby
singing "Do you hear what I hear?"
yet we refuse to listen to the
Child born on that first Christmas day!

Jesus said to the crowds: ”To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”

Matthew 11:16-19

Dear Jesus,
please open our ears and our hearts
to truly LISTEN to you,
to HEAR you and follow you;
forgive us for listening only to us,
for hearing more the noise of the world
than your voice right there
in our hearts;
let us listen to you, Lord, 
once and for all to experience
"prosperity like a river,
vindication like the waves 
of the sea" (Isaiah 48:18);
harden not our hearts to 
follow you and imbibe
your words in our lives.
Amen.