I just put a pot of vegetables on to simmer. I’m playing winter, for if I step outside I’ll sweat to death in the heat and absolute humidity. It has been raining for two days and I am sure the wet atmosphere has contributed to our 100% humidity. Rain, rain go away. And then I think of Minnesota and Michigan…. and I imagine the brrrrrry snowy atmosphere so I am not complaining about our heat. In silence, listening to the rain drop, and the occasional sodden palm frond or coconut fall from the trees outside the kitchen window, while I chopped onions and garlic, carrots, celery and some veggies with winter squash that I roasted a few days ago, I thought about my northern friends doing the same thing. Put the chopped things into a soup pot with some left over turkey broth from Thanksgiving, a dollop of red wine, some black beans in juice, some water. Bring to a boil… While chopping those pesky onions (and weeping) and those carrots and garlic and celery and looking out at the rain, I realized this is the best way to celebrate Advent. This is the season when we must stop and just gather our harvest, and meditate. As we chop the vegetables, don’t DO anything else. Think about… the veggies and Thank God for his blessings. I go to daily Mass so I am "forced" to thank God, for I often forget to thank God and ask for help. I told my sister Sarah about a mistake I made that made me bounce the mortgage check! I got that 6:30 am message "insufficient funds" on my cell phone and freaked. OOPS! Wonder how much that will cost. So I said to Sarah, "Guess what I did at 6:30 in the morning when I saw that the bank tried to pay my mortgage, but got insufficient funds?" She said, "Well Susie I imagine that you prayed, for that is what you do." OOPS again. Nope, I didn’t. Instead I went to the safe, took some cash to the bank. I had to wait until 9am as I didn’t have a debit card at that bank (I do now) to make an ATM deposit… and I solved the problem myself. OOPS, I guess I forgot who I am. I’ve counceled others, "Pray first." and here I am solving my own problems thank you very much. It’s the old, independent "I can take care of myself" routine that we girls learned at our working mother’s knee… "Be able to take care of yourself," mother counceled as she stirred the oatmeal with the wooden spoon just before she went off to work. That’s another story. So what is this all about? This morning in Mass we read from Isaiah who quotes a lot of promises saying, "thus says the Lord God:"… this morning’s reading was especially to the point (pointing right at me), "Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and the orchard regarded as a forest…And out of the gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see… For the tyrant will be no more and the arrogant will have gone; All who are alert to do evil will be cut off, those whose mere word condemns a man… (those evil ones will be cut off)… Now Jacob (that’s us who believe in the Lord as God) shall have nothing to be ashamed of, nor shall his face grow pale… they shall reverence the Holy One of Jacob… Those who err in spirit shall aquire understanding, and those who find fault shall receive instruction." (Isaiah 29:17-24)… I’ll talk about that and what it means to me in a second. Then we read the Gospel according to Matthew 9:27:31. Two blind men followed Jesus and cried out, "’Son of David, have pity on us!’… Jesus said, ‘Do you believe that I can do this?’ ‘Yes, Lord.’" "Do you believe that I can do this?" When I "fixed" my money problem I did it on my own. I didn’t thank God for my astute wisdom in realizing I had cash in the safe that I could quickly deposit in the bank. I did not thank God that there is cash in the safe. I didn’t even think of God. And here is Isaiah saying, all those evil people, don’t you worry about them, in fact, Jesus asks us to pray for them… don’t worry about those who can’t see God or Jesus, don’t worry about those who "err in spirit" or "those who find fault" for "Says the Lord God" they shall aquire understanding and they will receive instruction! YEA! How liberating that is! Isaiah very carefully lays it out for us all over his very long book… but here, read chapters 7 and 9: First, in chapter 7:14 Isaiah describes the Virgin birth when he promises a the child named Emmanuel, and in chapter 9, Isaiah names the child for us… He is "the great light", he is "Wonderful Counselor", "God Hero", "Father Forever", "Prince of Peace." Today, I thanked God for reminding me that I believe, and I prayed, "Lord help my unbelief" that he can take care of things. The Lord can take care of the unbelievers that I worry about. He can take care of the blind who can’t see him. He can take care of me. So go, read the wonderful amazing promises. Then go make some vegetable soup and take a lot of time chopping those vegetables! Happy Advent. God bless you.
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