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Thursday of the First Week of Advent

Readings of the Day
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I have to confess: today's readings make me worried. In the
reading from Isaiah, those who trust in God and are just have a strong
city,
thanks to the Lord. But the Lord humbles those in high places and will
tumble their
city to the ground. The poor and needy will trample on it.

In Matthew's gospel, the one who listens and acts on
God's
will is like one who builds a house on rock. But if one listens
and doesn't act, it's like the fool who
builds a house on sand and it's swept away by the wind, the
rains, and the
flood. 

So what makes me nervous about these passages? Frankly, I
know that I hear the word of the Lord, but also know that I
don't always act on
that word. Do I really trust God? Also, living in earthquake country,
those
descriptions of cities tumbling to the ground feel very possible. And
right now
the rainy season has started with warnings of mudslides and flooding.

Maybe trusting in God is like being prepared for a disaster.
Like our Disaster Preparedness team, we need to be ready for crises,
for sooner
or later they will occur. It's how we approach those crises that
matters. Do we
cling to that Rock, or do we think we can do it all ourselves? Do we
trust that
even if we don't have all the answers and when we screw up,
there is one who
loves us, forgives us and cares for us more deeply than we can
imagine? Maybe
practicing acts of generosity, gratitude, and forgiveness are like
disaster
preparedness drills. When our clients face the disasters of
homelessness,
unemployment, mental illness, incarceration, or isolation, we need to
be ready
to bring God's love to them in each of our encounters. To do
that, we need to
trust that God is present in them, in us and in our encounter.

 

Gregory Kepferle is CEO of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara
County and President of Charities Housing Development Corporation in
San Jose,
California.

 

 

 




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