After reflecting on the readings for today, I cannot help but question and consider the U.S.’s national and international policies. The first reading promises the flowing: “A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace; in peace, for its trust in you.” Is the U.S. a nation that is acting with purpose? Do our leaders in congress and the senate and those in higher power trust in God or do they try to align and arrange things for our country’s benefit? For surely, if the latter is the case, this nation will be humbled for the reading says, “He tumbles it to the ground, levels it with the dust. It is trampled underfoot the by the needy, by the footsteps of the poor.”

In this reading, we also get a sense of God’s love and preference for the poor. Clearly, they will be the ones He raises up. Just as God has a preference for the poor and needy, we should too. God did not promise land or resources to only certain individuals. He intended for humans to live in harmony with one another in His creation and to only take what is needed. However, at times because we are creatures, greed can be a powerful force and we succumb to sin and take more than what we need. Everyone does it. In this season of Advent, and in the retail world – consumerism, we should give and share according to need, so that all may be at the table.

Jesus, in the Gospel today, says that anyone who does the will of God will enter the Kingdom of heaven. His will is clear. For in today’s reading from Isaiah, the writer says, he will “let in a nation that is just.” Throughout the Gospels justice is the message of Jesus Christ as he seeks out those that society has rejected. Jesus says, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” Jesus promises the kingdom if we simply follow him and carry out acts of justice. Easy, right? If someone has figured out how to live justly day in and day out, please, tell me the recipe. Jesus knew the path to justice would be difficult for his followers, however, in this passage from Luke, he says, that although we will endure wind, rain and flooding, if we live according to him, we shall not fall. That is the promise we receive in this season of Advent.