Holy Spirit of God, in these times, help me stand up, raise my gaze and look for your saving Grace…

 
Revelation 14:1-5 & Luke 21 5 - 36

 
Strange that in the Gospel (Good News) Reading for the First Sunday of the Church Year Christ Jesus describes the doom and gloom to come. But, positioned as it is, at the entrance to this season of Advent, it gives us opportunity to realize just why we need Christ Jesus to save us, not only spiritually, but in heart, mind and body as well. In this passage from Luke, Jesus counsels all believers down through the ages how to deal with portents in the heavens (now being seen through the Webb telescope), distress among the nations (Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, Sudan)  and the roaring of the seas (climate change). Jesus tells us to not be terrorized; to endure all things, to be on our guard so our hearts are not weighed down, to be alert, and to pray for strength to escape. This is what it means to raise our heads, because these signs of the times mean that our salvation is nearer than ever. The Mercy of God is always available for the asking, and the looking. We miss it when we focus on the ‘world, the flesh and the devil’, but we find it when we look for it – perhaps more than ever in stressful times - when we raise our hearts and minds to recognize the Mercy of God as it is to be found in each act of Love, each ray of Light and each breath of Life. Will I choose to bow under the yoke of dark oppression, or stand up and seek my salvation in the face of God and Christ Jesus his Son?  Holy Spirit of God, in these times, help me stand up, raise my gaze and look for your saving Grace. 
 
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; … Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.  (Psalm 16:5,9)
 
Be faithful in small things
because it is them that your strength lies.
Saint Mother Teresa of Kalcutta
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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