IN A VERY SHORT TIME

PRAYER MOMENT 

Friday 5 December 2014

IN A VERY SHORT TIME

             

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “In a short time, a very short time, shall not Lebanon become fertile land and fertile land turn into forest?” (Isaiah 29:17-24)

Reflection. Isaiah gives us his message in poetry and metaphor. But what is this ‘short time’? We have been waiting many years. How can you give a message to people who struggle every day and say, ‘In a short time your problems will be solved’? The ‘signs’ in today’s readings are of the blind seeing and the deaf hearing, but they are only a signs. The message is about hope and Isaiah could be commenting on the Congress in Harare. Hope is not an uncertain wish – ‘I hope the operation will succeed. I hope the rains will come.’ It is a certainty built on faith. It will happen. But since it is built on faith it stretches the human heart beyond the confines of daily chat. It goes deep down into the place where God lives within. There we can find surety and we find it ‘very soon.’

Prayer. Lord, as Advent unfolds, lead us into the ‘sure hope’ that you promise. Help us rise above petty aspirations we cherish to the vision you offer. Amen.  

David Harold-Barry SJ