Second Friday of Advent: Remembered

Their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence. Is. 48:19

Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked...But delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night. Ps. 1:1

Today’s first reading called me back to a central theme of the movie The Book of Life, which I watched a few weeks ago: the importance of remembering. As the movie’s climax approaches, the threat of dying at the hands of the bandit Chakal and his men is heightened by the fact that if all of them are killed, then the entire living memory of their town dies too. They will not only die in this life, but eternally. It is reassuring that we believe in “the resurrection of the body and life everlasting” and the return of Jesus. This reading reminds me that we never have to fear the fate of the residents of San Angel in the movie. We cannot be forgotten forever because we will never be blotted from the presence of God. Inspired by this, I hope that this Year of Mercy that we have just started, can be an opportunity for me to keep God and my neighbor in my own mind, my own presence, more purposefully.

My second thought today is from the Gospel. I think that every generation is “this generation.” Our problems are, in some ways, unique, but they are rooted in the same tremors of original sin that shake throughout time and across the world. Though evil isn’t novel, it remains scary to me. I see it in the violence that erupts across the globe, and in voices that rise with greater volume and vitriol against each other. All of it sickens and scares me. But then...the door of mercy opens. As has already been mentioned in these reflections, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door in the war-torn capital of the Central African Republic. A new door opened. We will not save ourselves, but we can walk through the doors and we can walk the road together, with Jesus. Though we may be called foolish or drunks for doing so, may this Advent find us attentive to the wisdom that will be our vindication.

What door is God inviting you to open? What does that open door offer to the world? 

Jason Coito