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Fourth Week of Advent - Thursday
December 23, 2004
Lo, I will send you
Elijah the prophet,
Before the day of the Lord comes,
The great and terrible day.
Malachi 3: 23
Elijah the Prophet
We live in the final days before the coming of the Lord. He will appear any day now, bringing both judgment and salvation to the world. We have been given plenty of warning of his coming. We should be ready for him.
The Jews of Jesus' time believed that a day of the Lord was coming when justice would be restored on the earth. The sign of this day of the Lord would be the return of the prophet Elijah, whose appearance was foretold by Malachi in the closing words of the Old Testament. The earliest followers of Jesus, in trying to sort out the meaning of Jesus' life, and especially the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, saw in John the Baptist the return of Elijah the prophet. And they saw in the death and resurrection of Jesus the terrible and glorious day of the Lord.
Since the death and resurrection of Jesus, the distinction between historical time and eternal life has become blurred. Those of us who believe in Jesus Christ straddle earth and heaven. Life is no longer a futile, endless cycle of ebb and flow, of rising and falling, of living and dying. Instead, it moves toward fulfillment. The Spirit of God takes hold in the world and draws all things heavenward into a convergence of grace. Life in the world becomes a journey of hope.
We live in the final days. Some doubt the Lord and say his coming is too long delayed. But the faithful eagerly await his coming, knowing that in his own good time the Lord will restore all things. The time is short. Be ready.
O Antiphon
Come,
Emmanuel,
God's presence among us, our King, our Judge,
Save us, Lord our God.
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