Advent: Dare to be mindfully prophetic

As we continue our Advent journey, the season of waiting and listening, the third Advent candle represents joy. It is known as the shepherd’s candle, representing the joy the shepherds experienced at the birth of Jesus.

As we know, angels announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds first in the Gospel of Luke. If we listen and are attentive, this speaks loudly. This tells us that Jesus first revealed himself to the poor, those who were despised, overlooked and oppressed.  Today, this tells us that God is for people experiencing poverty, homelessness, oppression, those experiencing violence, the immigrant, among others.  

Rabbi Abraham Heschel writes that the role of prophets was to interfere, to meddle in affairs that seemingly were not of their concern or responsibility, and to invite others to be champions of the poor and vulnerable (p 261). They were not simply to abstain from doing injustice, but to pursue it (p 264). The prophet was also to call people back to the covenant, to be in right relationship with God and the dear neighbor, and the foundation of this was love because they were intoxicated with the awareness of God’s love and compassion for God’s creation. So, being reminded of the call of the Old Testament prophets, let us remember that through our charism, God is calling us to dare to be mindfully prophetic.

 The chaos that exists in our society and world is intentionally created by humans to disrupt people’s lives, to lead people into despair and fear, and to further marginalize and oppress our neighbors and creation. Thus, we can dismantle this social/structural sin. As Fr. Gregory Boyle says, we need “to upset the setup.” Here are only a few suggestions to help imagine the world God imagines for us, where everyone can flourish.

So let us listen to the suffering and the cry of the oppressed as God does, and let us be attentive to name the injustices in our society and world, to continue working for justice, and to be heralds of hope and joy, as were the angels who announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds.