Thursday of the Second Week of Advent

Christ on the Mountain Catholic Church, Lakewood, Colorado

A reading of the holy Gospel according to Matthew  11:11-15

Jesus said to the crowds:  "Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.  From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.  All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.  And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come.  Whoever has ears ought to hear."  

This is a challenging passage for me.  I do not understand.  

I am reminded of our first homework assignment at Biblical School.  We were to read an article about "understanding the Bible" and write a paper about it.  The article said that it is difficult to understand the Bible, and that trying to do so would produce humility in a reasonable person.  I have been humbled repeatedly.  The Book of Isaiah almost made me drop out of Biblical School.  Prior to attending the school, I would have told you Isaiah was one of my favorite books.  Now I will tell you that I simply do not understand it.  I can pray for understanding, but my intellect is not going to "figure it out."  

Thankfully, I am increasingly spending time with people who are also praying for understanding.  I can't help but think this is good.  

And thank you to anyone who is reading my blog.  I appreciate it.  I once had a "successful" blog, in fact, although I abandoned it at the beginning of Advent, it still is "successful."  After writing daily on it for over five years, it comes up frequently on Google for many things.  Over 100 people a day end up there as a result of a Google search.  In the course of those five years, I came to realize that it was not where my heart was.  My heart longs to write about Jesus and his church.  In this, I am not articulate.  But I need to be.  If I can spend an hour a day preparing to write this blog, in addition to the time I am already spending in prayer, at mass, at adoration, etc., I hope I can become more articulate.  We are charged to  "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19).  I cannot be effective in my attempt at this until I can speak of it.  (I think)