Scripture Sunday (1)

I also hope you don't mind that I grabbed your image!

I really enjoy reading Claire’s Scripture Sunday posts, so this week I decided to join her. (Hopefully you don’t mind, friend!)

I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m so glad to be done with the doom and gloom apocalyptic readings we’ve been getting the past couple months! (Now if only the sun would show its lovely face…but alas, one thing at a time). I’m ready for some hope-filled readings! And today’s definitely did the trick. The verse that really stuck out to me was from the Gospel (Luke 3:1-6)

            “The winding roads shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth.”

The first thing that came to mind when I read the passage right before Mass was Heaven and Jesus’ second coming. I assumed St. Luke was talking about what the world would look like after Jesus returns and sets all things right. It makes sense, right? Heaven is going to be perfect, so we’ll no longer carry the burdens we do now. We’ll have overcome all the trials, tribulations, and heartaches we’re going through. Everything will be straight and smooth and Jesus will be the one to do it.

Well, turns out my way of thinking may only be partially right. Yes, it will be because of Jesus that the world is made perfect, but He’ll be using US to do it. During the homily, my priest spelled out this message for us. He confessed that he originally thought the same thing I just wrote due to the fact that the verse is written in future tense whereas the one before it is in present tense. But after reflecting on the reading more, he decided that it’s talking about us, not Jesus. We’re the ones being called to make the roads straight and the ways smooth for others. We need to be the ones to bring Christ to others so that we can all be prepared for His second coming. Obviously, we can’t do it without His help, but we are to be His hands out in the world. People need to see His face when they look at us. We need to make ourselves pure vessels so that Jesus has something pure to come back into. The first coming was obviously in Mary, and we all know about her Immaculate Conception and her purity. But the second time He comes, it will be in us. So we need to make life worth living so that people can encounter Jesus. We are how people will see the salvation of God. We are how Jesus will be made manifest again. We are Jesus in the world.

The priest even went so far as to speculate that Jesus won’t come again until everyone in the world has had the Gospel shared with him or her.

So what are we doing to share our faith with others? How can we help each other grow in holiness? How are we showing others the love of Jesus? I know I need all the help I can get!