The Work of Prophets

From "The Prison Meditations of Father Delp":

"Advent is the time for rousing.  Man is shaken to the very depths, so that he may wake up to the truth of himself.  The primary condition for a fruitful and rewarding Advent is renunciation, surrender... A shattering awakening; that is the necessary preliminary.  Life only begins when the whole framework is shaken.

"...May the Advent figure of St. John the Baptist, the incorruptible herald and teacher in God's name, be no longer a stranger in our own wilderness.  Much depends on such symbolic figures in our lives.  For how shall we hear if there are none to cry out, none whose voice can rise above the tumult of violence and destruction, the false clamor that deafens us to reality?

"...There is so much despair that cries out for comfort; there is so much faint courage that needs to be reinforced; there is so much perplexity that yearns for reasons and meanings.  God's messengers, who have themselvs reaped the fruits of divine seeds even in the darkest hours, know how to wait for the fulness of harvest."

As we continue through this Advent season, let us pray that we recognize God's messengers when they appear to us, and that we be that messenger to others.