First Sunday of Advent
November 29, 2020
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112920.cfm
Human life is a gift of God and this life has been planted in our heart by the right hand of God. God and his Wisdom can not be failed because God plants which can live for ever. The life given to us can not be taken away by any situations or the Enemy , if at all if we feel like we are dead , we rise again through the Spirit of God. This is the quality of God’s Spirit in our life.
Recently I pickup a thrown Aloe Vera plant from one of our neighbors garden and kept it in my Balcony for almost one year without water and compost since there was no provision of Gardening in my flat. During Covid lock down I was cleaning my Balcony and found the Aloe Vera plant alive even after one year without water or compost . I was surprised , immediately I bought some compost and pot and planted the Aloevera , with in two months the Aloevera grew and reproduced another small plants from its roots. Aloe Vera did not die despite of not putting a single drop of water and a pinch of mud for almost one year in a Concrete ground of my Balcony because the plant has the Capacity to grasp the water from Air and survive but can not reproduce or grow. Christians are the stocks of the right hand of God and can not die despite all the efforts of the Evil World.
Human Beings were created with eternal life with the Spirit of God put in their heart, when the human loses or denies or accepts other Spirits roaming in the World , he loses his eternity or the strength or power to rise again in their life. If we have the Spirit of God in our life we have nothing to fear because the Holy Spirit sustains us . If we do not sustain with new strength then it is very clear that we do not possess the Spirit of God. There is no disappointment or defeat to a Christian because the spirit he possess is God and God can not be defeated or disappointed or instigated or persecuted or tempted in the Spiritual point of view. We feel defeated or persecuted in our flesh but in the Spirit we become more powerful and stronger to bounce back at the tempter and the tempter is punished eternally for challenging the Spirit of God in our lives.
When we in relationship with Christ , we receive a special outpouring of the Spirit in our lives daily which empowers our Spirit. This special anointing is necessary for a Christian, and no Christian can survive without this power of Salvation. All charity and generosity must pour out from the grace of the Holy spirit. I remember one of my friend experienced the Lord powerfully and started a care home , as he got more people in his care home from other faith, he stopped the Christian ways in the Care home and tilted towards the government benefits by secular and saying our religion is humanity and got involved so much in the care home and benefits . After sometime this person stopped his prayer time and got involved in the Charity full time. The joy and Compassion and miraculous provision and even the needy people decreased in his care home slowly and gradually. After ten years when I met him , he has converted his care home in a paid old age home. I asked him the reason , he said there are many challenges to run a care home free, and provisions were a great concern and government wanted to take over the administration of the care home and make it government aided home. Also he said the old age home is a good Business and there is good money. My friend was completely out of the prayer life and had become a Business Man.
The unburdened provisions can come only through the power of God. When we live our life in Prayer and guidance of love and service our provisions and wisdom comes from the Lord. This life is called waiting on the power of God. If we watch in one to one with God everyday in our personal Prayer, Sacraments, Scripture reflections and Service we need not to worry for our Provisions and providence. It comes from the right hand of God who created us but we must act like right stock of his creation and depend and wait upon him for all the works of our hands.
Advent is a time to rise or depend or wait or watch upon God power and get anointed with the power of God. Baptism is a sacrament of initiation where the Christian faith sprouts in our heart but not a guarantee of eternal life, this little faith must grow through other sacraments like Reconciliation, Eucharist, Family Prayer, Personal Prayer, Renewal of our Baptism Vows, Scripture Reflections , Community living, charity, service, Forgiveness,Evangelisation , sacrament of Marriage and Ordination.
Christian faith is like a cultivation , it can not grow overnight but over our entire life day by day and part by part. Salvation Experience is not salvation , this experience is an initiation given by the Spirit to use it in our daily living. It is a foretaste of God’s Kingdom in our life. If we do things in our life what we are suppose to do by waiting,watching and depending upon the Wisdom and power of God then we are ready to receive him anytime of our life. We need not wait only in Advent to prepare and receive him. Church has given us a time to reflect our life in our Busy life in the time of advent, if at all we are lost in the Whirlwind of the entices of the material World and Evil.
Prayer : Lord anoint me with the Holy spirit Amen.