December 10, 2004
Friday of the Second Week of Advent
Father Jason Koch, LC

Matthew 11:16-19
Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in the 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.

Introductory Prayer:Lord of my life, to what shall I compare your love for me? I believe in your power and grace and call upon you to form and channel my efforts towards holiness. I want to set my standards to be the same as yours. I want to melt away so that you can live in me and use me as your instrument of grace for those around me.

Petition:Jesus, help me not to allow myself to be led by the spirit of the world, nor pick and choose which of your commandments I will follow. Give me the grace to be yours wholly and perpetually.

1. This Generation. “To what shall I compare this generation?” These words of Christ apply to our society today and paint a clear picture of what we should and should not be. Today’s Gospel speaks about those who find fault with Christ. Today’s society finds fault with Christ at every turn: in his humility, in the way he doesn’t crush the little one, in his call for purity of heart, in his preaching about the passing of material things, in his urgent cry to sacrifice ourselves in reparation for sin, in his willingness to forgive his very enemies. Nothing Christ does is accepted today by the world. How does the world affect me today? Are my decisions founded on Christ’s ways––often revolutionary ways––, or do I find fault as well? Do I only accept a Christ who will come down from the cross? Would I find fault today with a Christ who forgave an offender against something or someone dear to me: my children, my things, my spouse, my work, my time? What do I love more, Christ or my things?

2. What Do They Say? Christ tells this parable about what they say. Christ, however, doesn’t care what they say except insofar as it shows that they have hardened their hearts and refuse to follow him. Christ’s manner of being is not affected by what others say. So why speak about what they say? This parable is a warning to those who care about what the world says. It is as if Christ is stopping to laugh at them––or maybe even mourn over their dithering––, but as well to point out something he doesn’t want us to imitate. Our worst tragedy should be that one day Christ would look at our lives and laugh or mourn or have his heart broken because we refuse to follow his words and example.

3. What Does Christ Say? And this brings us to what we really should be asking: not “What do they say?”, but rather, “What is Christ saying?” What does Christ say about my actions, what does he think about my life? True Godly respect should replace that tainted, and so often self-servicing, human respect which has the ability to twist our lives like vines by wrapping us around the world’s ways of looking at Christ and his Gospel. A true Christian is focused on Christ and does not care about any opinion other than Christ’s. A true Christian does not allow any other point of view to taint his own and draw him away from the one true path.

Dialogue with Christ: Dearest Jesus, thank you for your commandments which free me from myself. Thank you for giving me a true guide in your Church and in the Holy Father. Thank you for your words of life that are made present to me through the Gospels. I pray only that you would not let me ever disregard these gifts or take them for granted. Be the center of my life, standards and decisions, so that everything I do will be for you and your kingdom. Amen.

Resolution: Today I will be especially attentive to fulfilling my commitments today even when it is costly for my human respect.