Always, even now, our Lord in approaching a soul in spiritual need asks nothing more than an open door to his knocking. He gives himself without exacting an initial cost. There is, however, a cost later, but one that must be offered with generous love. Mother Teresa often urged her sisters, “Give without counting the cost.”
Faithfulness to Jesus can be very demanding; and zeal for souls can bring frustration, even revilement. But we have received much, and we ought to have great longing for Jesus Christ to be known and loved. We can never return but a fragment of all cost to bringing knowledge of him to others.
Let us pray this Advent for souls in need.
Reflection based on Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8
Father Donald Haggerty
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” The Gospel of the Lord.
John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”