GOD IS OUR FATHER AND OUR REDEEMER

I SUNDAY OF ADVENT - Isaiah 63:16-17,64:1,3-8

We begin this first Sunday of Advent with Isaiah addressing God as “our Father” and “our Redeemer”. We call him Father because we are the work of his hands. He is like the potter and we are the clay, which he moulds. For us Christians, God is our Father, not only because he created us but also because he adopted us in Jesus Christ. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us that God called us and has joined us to his beloved Son, Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus, the Son, that we become God’s children. However, we have gone astray and turned our backs on God. Isaiah describes the tragic situation we live in with strong words: “We have all withered like leaves and our sins blew us away like the wind. No one invoked your name or roused himself to catch hold of you.” Faced with disaster, we plead with God to intervene and redeem us. Being our Father, he is our Redeemer, for the sake of his glory, which manifests itself in love and mercy.

As we begin the Advent season, we are called to become aware of the distressful situation we live in. We are unclean people, who need that their sins are washed away. Then, we must recognise God’s love and mercy in an attitude of thanksgiving. Paul tells the Corinthians that he gives thanks to God “for all the graces you have received through Jesus Christ”. (1 Co 1:4). We must do the same. And the graces we have received are so many! Together with thanksgiving, we must pray earnestly that God may“keep you (us) steady and without blame until the last day, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

The Gospel calls on us to be on the alert and to remain vigilant. When the Lord comes, we must be ready to welcome him.

“Let us see, O Lord, your mercy and give us your saving help.” (Ps 84:8)