JOY AND JUDGEMENT
In our first reading, we are told to shout for joy! To sing joyfully. To be glad and exult for the Lord has removed the judgment against you.
One of the many blessings of this season is the opportunity, and perhaps even the demand, to refocus our understandings and actions concerning the divine life. To renew our relationship with God. To step back and look across the horizon of faith so that we may not loose sight of the big picture.
Though many associate religion with judgment – that is not what it is about. Jesus tells us that “I have come so that you may have life to the full – that your joy may be complete.” Now in order to know joy, some judgment is necessary, but such judgment is internal, not external. Nor should we confuse the goal – the goal of all of this is not so that we may pass judgment. The goal is to have life to the full – to live in complete joy.
CLICK HERE for the readings for the Third Sunday of Advent (Zephaniah 3:14-18; Isaiah 12:2; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18)