Promoting Justice and Love

First Sunday of Advent
November 28, 2021  

SCRIPTURE
Jer. 33: 14 16
Thess. 3:12-4:2
Luke 21 21:25-28, 34-36

Paula McKenzie

PREACHING
The call for justice in Jeremiah and the story of the end times in Luke hardly seem like reason for a happy beginning of this new liturgical year, that is, unless we go a whole lot deeper. 

When I was working with other Sinsinawa Dominicans at the Humanitarian Center at the border last spring, I often looked at the masked faces of the refugees and saw in their tired eyes an unrelenting hope, a deep longing. I believe the refugees were taking the long view. Yes, their tired bodies had made it across the border but they still had a long way to go until they would be safely settled in this country. They could not let go of their vigilance for a better future for themselves and their families. Yes, they seemed quietly happy to be in this country but they had to go a whole lot deeper to keep their hope.

These readings call us to take the long journey on sharing and promoting justice and love through our efforts against human trafficking, to slow climate change, to support immigrants, and to end racism to name a few. We could allow ourselves to become drowsy in the face of all the needs for justice and love. We could choose to become anxious. Or we could choose another way. Like the refugees who walked for weeks and weeks to get to our border, how do we keep vigilant and hopeful as we begin this new liturgical year?

by Dominican Associate of Sinsinawa Paula McKenzie