4th Advent: The Choice for Love

King Ahaz was quite the person. He was King of Judah, and during his reign two other kings had come to him from Israel and Damascus, wanting to form an alliance against Assyria. Assyria being the rising power in the region. Ahaz does not know what to do; what are his choices? Isaiah the Prophet comes to him and says to trust in God. God will grant anything for Ahaz. Ahaz feigns piety and humility, but he is in reality not pious nor humble. Still God offers him a path; even though Ahaz defers and deflects. Ahaz needs to trust in God’s plan.  What will happen is that Ahaz will not trust God: in fact, he will go behind these kings’ backs and do something that will protect himself only. He forms an alliance with Assyria who will ultimately defeat and conquer these two kingdoms. Yet, the cost will be that Ahaz becomes subservient to Assyria, and he will even change the worship of God to match Assyria’s, and will also sacrifice to their idols.

Imagine Joseph and what he experienced. His bride has become pregnant, and he knows it is not through him. Imagine the dismay, the shock he had. What can he do? What are his choices? As a Jewish man, a righteous one, he knows the Torah, the Law; it offers options. The compassionate man chooses the least harmful way out for Mary.  Then God provides him some more insight into the situation, and then gives him a third option, the option upon which the law is founded. The option to love and create life.

Choices need to be made: decisions, important decisions, need to be made. This is part of an adult life. How will we make them? What will be our sources of information, inspiration, our philosophy, our foundation? Will we be conscious of those?  

One of the objectives of Catholic Formation is the build up within ourselves of a fully formed adult Conscience: that capacity to discern and make moral choices.  Moral choices that bring goodness into the world: moral choices that serve the many, not just the one or few.  Moral choices that signify the inherent goodness within us as humans, as children of God.

We can look into our world and see the chaos from bad decisions. Too often decisions are based on our own feelings, wants and desires. We react. Decisions based short term goals, on wanting to avoid hardship, or to protect only ourselves.

True Disciples of Jesus Christ seek to make the best decision.
True Disciples of Jesus seek what is truly best for many. They seek out facts, options; disciples discern and pray. Then a decision is made.

Terrifying at times, the decisions we need to make. Do we place someone we love into a care facility, hospice care? Do we remove treatments that are no longer working and let nature take its course?  How do we manage a child with behavioral issues? What do we do with a relationship that is falling apart? How do we manage feelings that conflict with what we think they need to be? How do I be me?

Next week we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the Son of God as Human; the Emmanuel, God with us. We celebrate the option, the choice to live.

Jesus, as we disciples know, by virtue of his very being, by his own actions tells us God the Father never ever abandons us. God remains with us always; guiding us with grace; to navigate the complexities of life. God remains present to us as make good decisions and celebrates in joy. God remains present to us even as we make wrong decisions to call us back to the correct path of life.

The Father loves us no matter what. Nothing can take away that love; sin has no power over God’s love, as the Death and Resurrection of Jesus reveals.

That same love inspired Joseph to take that third option: to choose life, for Mary, for the child in her womb, and even for him.  That same love can inspire us too. Present to us in our Eucharist especially, but given to us as our daily bread, our daily medicine, our daily strength.  Love to conquer our fears, as Scripture says: fear of the unknown, the fear of making decisions and sticking with them, fear of imagined consequences.

So as disciples, as those who pray in Christ, immerse ourselves in Christ, immerse ourselves in this Eucharistic love.  So that when we are confronted with our choices, when confronted with decisions, we can choose life. We can choose with love.

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