Fr. Vincent Munary sx
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (reflection by Fr. Vincent Munari sx)
During the Holy Eucharist with the Nuntio in Saint Conforti Parish
(Makeni) to celebrate the 70 years of the presence of the Xaverians in
Sierra Leone, something attracted my attention.
In the procession with the Word of God - before the proclamation of the Gospel - there was a boy cleaning the
road with a local broom immediately in front of the Lectionary carried
by the Deacon.
Well, the Church building was already clean but Isaiah, quoted during
these Sundays in the Gospel of Mark and, today, of John, insists in
preparing the way for the Lord, making a straight way for Him.
When I saw the simple local broom, I began to smile. How can it be a
proper implement to prepare a road?
Shovels, pickaxes, hammers, wheelbarrows are needed just to open a simple
path! But then it came to my mind that this is an implement full of
meaning: simple, humble, bound together, very handy…. And it is in
line with the starting and the continuation of the revelation of the
New Testament: the word of God entrusted to a man shouting not at the
entrance of the Temple but in a desert, a man dressed with unusual,
poor clothes, who also survived on locusts and honey.
If we consider the rest of the story, the place for the birth of
Christ: the stable, was perhaps having a broom like that in the far
corner. The houses of the poor here in Africa are never without this
simple implement.
There is a lesson for us, given by the broom. Humility and simplicity
are characteristics of the Baptist, of Mary, of the shepherds and it
should be also our characteristic. The danger is that we continue to
think Christmas associating it with plenty of sweet rich food,
decorations of churches and houses, carols, outings, gifts …
No, stop, let us take a broom and clean the place of a poor person who is
sick, let us remember that a stable is the beginning of the
manifestation of the presence of Jesus in our midst, with simplicity
let each one of us say: “look, Jesus, I am like a broom of poor quality but I desire to serve in preparing your second coming. Use
me as you like”.
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (reflection by Fr. Vincent Munari sx)
During the Holy Eucharist with the Nuntio in Saint Conforti Parish
(Makeni) to celebrate the 70 years of the presence of the Xaverians in
Sierra Leone, something attracted my attention.
In the procession with the Word of God - before the proclamation of the Gospel - there was a boy cleaning the
road with a local broom immediately in front of the Lectionary carried
by the Deacon.
Well, the Church building was already clean but Isaiah, quoted during
these Sundays in the Gospel of Mark and, today, of John, insists in
preparing the way for the Lord, making a straight way for Him.
When I saw the simple local broom, I began to smile. How can it be a
proper implement to prepare a road?
Shovels, pickaxes, hammers, wheelbarrows are needed just to open a simple
path! But then it came to my mind that this is an implement full of
meaning: simple, humble, bound together, very handy…. And it is in
line with the starting and the continuation of the revelation of the
New Testament: the word of God entrusted to a man shouting not at the
entrance of the Temple but in a desert, a man dressed with unusual,
poor clothes, who also survived on locusts and honey.
If we consider the rest of the story, the place for the birth of
Christ: the stable, was perhaps having a broom like that in the far
corner. The houses of the poor here in Africa are never without this
simple implement.
There is a lesson for us, given by the broom. Humility and simplicity
are characteristics of the Baptist, of Mary, of the shepherds and it
should be also our characteristic. The danger is that we continue to
think Christmas associating it with plenty of sweet rich food,
decorations of churches and houses, carols, outings, gifts …
No, stop, let us take a broom and clean the place of a poor person who is
sick, let us remember that a stable is the beginning of the
manifestation of the presence of Jesus in our midst, with simplicity
let each one of us say: “look, Jesus, I am like a broom of poor quality but I desire to serve in preparing your second coming. Use
me as you like”.