Third Sunday of Advent

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121111.cfm


The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;

We often hear these delightful words echoed in various forms throughout the Gospels and in our liturgies. Mary felt the rush of the Holy Spirit upon her as the Good News drove her to Jerusalem and Elizabeth's house. Like Jeremiah, John the Baptist was anointed before he was born. Jesus felt the Spirit descend upon him. It drove him from the Jordan River into the desert where he fasted for forty days and forty nights, and then back to civilization and his ministry. He announced that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him in the synagogue at Nazareth. The Nazarenes welcomed him for a moment, before they decided to toss him over their nearby cliff. 

The disciples in the Cenacle witnessed the anointing of the Holy Spirit in tongues of flame, and Saint Paul was unexpectedly anointed on his way to Damascus. Anointing is the sine qua non of Christian discipleship. If you don't have it, you shouldn't fake it. 

In our Catholic traditions we celebrate that anointing in Baptism, Confirmation and priestly ordination. We also witness it during a bishop's ordination, especially as the inverted, open Gospel-book is held like a sheltering roof over his head. 

Anointing sets us apart from other people. It is a burden too heavy to bear unless it meets a willing spirit within us. That inner spirit might declare with Saint Peter, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man." but the anointing does not readily retreat from those it has chosen. 

I well remember the night about a month before I was ordained, when I suddenly realized what I was getting into. I was paralyzed with fear. "What am I doing here. This wasn't my idea! It was my mother's. Oh my God, how do I get out of this now, after thirteen years of preparation?" 

And then I surrendered, "This was your idea, Lord. You will have to see me through." 

I rejoice heartily in the LORD,in my God is the joy of my soul;for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,like a bride bedecked with her jewels.

The anointed must never forget where the "idea" came from. It is God who called me from long ago, even from my mother's womb, long before I had any notions of doing good. It is God who gathers us into the Church and reconsecrates us time and time again. The minute I forget that, or ignore it, or think that maybe I have an idea of my own that's worth pursuing, I lose the Spirit of God. I suspect it gleefully abandons me in the desert of myself to find out how ridiculous I am. I will soon learn what it feels like to be a lamb among wolves, or a cleaned and empty house vulnerable to the returning demon with his seven companions worse than himself. But...

The one who calls you is faithful,
and he will also accomplish it.

So long as we remain with the Lord we have no fear, even at the approach of judgement.