First Sunday of Advent: God’s Ways

The responsorial Psalm [24 (25)] cries out: Show me your ways, Oh Lord. This whole season of Advent (Cicle C) leads us to a closer relationship to the God who reveals himself in history.

The dominant socio-economic system in many parts of the world wants us to think that the individual is supreme (and not for selfless reasons). Extreme individualism is the order of the day is so many communities and nations. This has led to religious manifestations that center on the individual in such a way that there is little place for the other. The consumer is such also in religion. There are countless sects, movements, etc., that cator to the individual’s tastes and moods.

But the ways of God are so different. He makes himself known in history as the Father of all and the Lord of Justice, Mercy and Love. He wants all – not just some – to be happy and is willing to forgive everything in order to transform reality for all. In his Love relationships are made new: a world of solidarity and justice. From the Exodus to Jesus Christ his project has been perceived as one of Liberation – from evil and from everything that oppresses human beings. It is a task that is being brought about in history, that will reach its culmination in a future known only to him.

This is the Hope that drives us towards a new heaven and a new earth. That God is on the side of the little ones, of the suffering, of the rejected, on the road towards a new world that we contribute to shape according to his Plan of Liberation, according to his ways.