Peace will bloom when the Lord comes

Read Time:6 Minute, 47 Second

Meditation for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, year A1

Probably each of us wonders what it is like in heaven. Most of us declare that they would like to go there. And the rest of them hide their dreams and secretly long for this heaven. But how it is there, no one knows exactly. Also, no one of our relatives and other deceased came and told us that. Even the saints do not reveal it to us. And yet we create various fantasies and thoughts, we search for different images of the sky. Well, we even hear: I feel like in heaven … .. But in fact, this sky seems so distant and distant to us ….

Meanwhile, today’s reading shows us a picture and a foretaste of heaven. The prophet Isaiah, using images of animal relations, creates for us the image of heaven. And so, according to him, “the wolf will live with the lamb, the panther and the goat will lie together, the calf and the lion will graze together, and the little boy will chase them on. The cow and the bear will be friendly with each other, their young will lie down together. The lion, too, will lie like an ox. he will eat straw. The baby will play on the cobra’s nest, the child will put his hand into the snake’s hideout “.

Humanly, but also according to the laws of nature, such relationships are not possible at all. Meanwhile, with God nothing is impossible. Being with Him in heaven is governed by His own laws, God’s laws. An interesting fact in this picture is a little boy who lives among these animals. We know that man, although he has been made the ruler of all creation and is to subdue the earth, is essentially fragile and weak as grass in the wind. It is just such a defenseless person, a child, who boldly deals with the most ferocious animals in the world. You might wonder why this is so. Could this little child have “the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and courage, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord”? Has it become the Shepherd of all nations?

The words of the Gospel show us another prophet who not only sketches a vision of heaven before us, but lives in such a heaven. Nay. He wants such a heaven for every man of his contemporaries. John the Baptist “wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his hips, and his food was locusts and forest honey”. He lived in the Judean Desert among animals, including those of prey; he lived among people for whom the laws and the principles of their observance and cultivation were sacred, sometimes more holy than the God from whom they originated. John did not despise these people, but rebuked them fraternally and called for them to change their behavior.

John proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. People from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the Jordan region came to him. John was calling them to convert so that they could enter the Kingdom of God. He could recognize the “vipers” – the Pharisees and Sadducees. He could recognize modern wolves and panthers, lions and bears, cobras and vipers…. often dressed as lambs, kids, calves, cows.

John the Baptist calls us to a change of heart, to live in harmony and love, to be sensitive to God and to ourselves; it calls for you to accept God into your heart and to put Him first in your life; to recognize Him as our Lord and Savior. The baptism he gives in the Jordan River is meant to be the beginning. In fact, John commands that this baptism should bring a worthy fruit of conversion. For he is followed by the one who is stronger than him and will baptize with fire and with the Holy Spirit. It is not enough to refer to Abraham as the father of all people. We still need to receive the Holy Spirit and purify ourselves in the fire of God’s love. And then the Lord personally oversees the wheat harvest in his storehouse – heaven.

There is also a third prophet in the liturgy of the Word – Saint Paul. He points out that the purpose of being in heaven is to worship God – “in harmony with one mouth.” This is the task of all those in heaven, including the Gentiles. God has shown His great mercy, so He is to be worshiped and praised for it. Everyone will sing and praise His name. In heaven, like Christ, everyone will have the same feeling – the feeling of love, because God gave them patience and comfort, he poured hope into their hearts, because God is love.

Saint Paul emphasizes that such an image of heaven is still valid for every time, every person and generation. It is thanks to Christ and his redemption that man can reconcile with God, with himself and with other people. “The things that were written once were also written for our instruction, that through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures we might keep up our hope.” Hope for life in heaven with the throne of God Most High. God is faithful to his promises made to our fathers ages ago. Jesus Christ came to earth, he comes to every human being, to me and to you, to remind us of this fidelity of his Father.

Jesus himself says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world. but that the world may be saved through him “(Jn 3:16). Mercy is the highest expression of love. Not only God the Father loved the world and man. His Son takes up every action here on earth with love: he teaches with love, cares for every person, heals and heals the body and soul, drives out evil spirits, accepts the cross with love on his shoulders and gives his life. With his love, Jesus promises a Spirit who will strengthen, refresh, remind and encourage you. He promises the Spirit of the Lord, which is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and fortitude, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. A man filled with God’s Spirit will act with love. In this love, like Jesus, he will become a servant of those who accept the call to conversion; those who have been saved and have eternal life. For when the Lord comes, peace will blossom in our hearts….

To be saved and to have eternal life is to be in heaven at the throne of God the Father. Do you want to be saved and have eternal life? Will the image of heaven outlined in today’s liturgical readings fascinate you enough to take up John the Baptist’s call to conversion? Perhaps you will ask: why me? Perhaps you will ask: how to do this? Perhaps you will say that every year the same call must be taken up again and again … Perhaps you are worried about your relatives and distant relatives, friends, acquaintances, whether they should also take up such a call. Perhaps you are still looking at others, because everyone does, that is, they live the goods of this world, hoping that they will be in heaven anyway… or they consider the goods of this world to be heaven…. Perhaps you think what the hell of one convert, since God made so many people. Perhaps you think that you are so weak and fragile that you will not be able to accept this call yourself, or to fulfill it yourself … Or maybe you consider yourself strong and so important that what a heaven for you …

Meanwhile, just today, it is to you and to me that God addresses through the words of John the Baptist a call echoing from the Judean Desert: “Convert, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.