Flocknote post - fourth week of Advent - 23 December 2020

     We are in the last days of the Advent season, as tomorrow we celebrate Christmas eve. I have been thinking about the readings we have had in the last few days during this last week of Advent. Last Sunday, we heard of Mary being told that she should visit her cousin Elizabeth who had been barren but now was with child. On the daily Mass yesterday (Tuesday), we heard the reading from 1 Samuel about Hannah, who had conceived a son in her old age when she had been barren. Hannah was presenting a sacrifice at the Temple to give thanksgiving for the birth of her son; she then presented him to live with the prophet Eli according to God’s instructions. In the birth of the children God brought hope and joy into the lives of these mothers. God answered their prayers. 

      This week for the 4th week of Advent in the reflections we have been doing in small faith groups, we were asked to look at our lives and to see those circumstances that are barren. Perhaps it is in personal relationship or a workplace situation or in our prayer life where we feel barren. As I was reflecting up this, I watched an interview on social media where a famous actress spoke about the grief she was going through in dealing with the death of a loved one and in the other harsh realities she is feeling in life in the midst of the pandemic. She says that she cried out to God in her pain, grief, and bitterness. She was hurting badly. She said that she was very angry at God. She felt herself being pulled into the darkness.  Her prayer life felt barren.  She expressed her anger to God in her prayers. She asked God why he had left her, why she could not feel his presence. She said that she heard God say to her - I was not the one who stepped away. And she realized that this was the truth, that she needed to reform her life and turn back to God. She felt the call to give thanks to God for the little blessings she has in life, to acknowledge his presence. The advice that she gives others that in the midst of our grief, our sufferings, and our struggles we need to turn to God. I thought about the humility and fidelity of Hannah in thanking God for the birth of her son. I thought of the humility of this actress to admit that she needed to turn back to God. In the midst of lives that may feel barren, God can bring us hope, redemption, and love.