Doing Good And Avoiding Evil And What Results

Friday of the Second Week in Advent

December is the darkest time of the calendar year. The revolution of the earth around the sun and the 23.5 degree tilt of our polar axis work together to make sunlight strike the northern hemisphere less in December than any other month of the year. Our response to the psalm today was “Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.” The sunlight involved, of course, is the light that is the Son of God, Jesus, whom we expect to return in glory on the last day of this earth.

Psalm 1 stands at the head of the Jewish hymnal, giving them and us Christians the key precept of the life of grace: do good and avoid evil. If we do good, giving honor to God and acting justly toward all other humans, we will be rewarded on earth with good consciences and in heaven with the vision of God. If we do evil, and assort with evil persons, we will suffer both on earth and in the world to come.

The prophet Isaiah expands on that reality, as he speaks for the Lord. God has taught us what is good, and by the life of Christ, Mary and all the saints, has shown us the way we should go. Following the commandments makes us lovers of God and of neighbor, and even of our enemies. Our descendants will be numbered like the grains of sand on the seashore. Really? If we use all our opportunities to evangelize, to spread the faith to those we meet, even strangers, by their own belief in Christ and the Gospel they will be like our offspring, and all those they encounter can become believers, additional spiritual offspring. What a meeting, what a joy it will be to meet them all in Christ’s kingdom as we all celebrate in the glorified Body of Christ!

Our Gospel pictures Jesus speaking to a large gathering. Some were committed disciples and probably most were just curious. He told the latter that they were like children playing a game. One group plays their juvenile instruments, maybe reed pipes or kazoos, but the rest just sit and stare rather than responding with a dance. If some play a sad tune, the rest just ignore them instead of showing sadness. How? They wouldn’t commit to either approach to God. John the Baptist was very serious, warning his listeners of the peril of avoiding a commitment. The response? The authorities accused him of being possessed. Jesus came, and even partied with tax collectors and street women as He spread the Gospel, but the authorities claimed He could not possibly be speaking God’s word. He wasn’t serious enough.

What, we might ask, is your own response to this season of preparation? Are you becoming like Christ, or are you holding yourself apart, aloof from the cries of the prophets?