RUTTER — Light of hope and peace

In the Gospels, we find Jesus gathering his wheat among the poor, blind, lame, outcasts and forgotten. Healing, blessing, feeding and teaching, our Shepherd brings his flock together under his care.”

Jane Rutter

We light the Advent candle, pray in a spirit of hope and go on to enjoy our dinner.

The first week of Advent made its way to the second, when we lit the candle of hope and that of peace.

The third week will find us praying for joy and the fourth — the final week awaiting the birth of Jesus, our Savior and King — love.

Brightly burning, the four lights usher in Christmas. Hope, peace, joy and love. The mark of the Christian life.

Often, we move through life not realizing it’s his love light we’re seeking. Unaware that the four weeks of Advent have meaning beyond just waiting to celebrate Jesus’s birth and the commercial hoopla surrounding it.

Each week of Advent is rich in meaning, to take us from the evil of darkness to the goodness that is light. The light that directs us to put aside our wants and desires and lift others up to goodness — to God.

It is Jesus, the human and divine baby, the Star of Bethlehem, whom we are meant to light our daily path. He is the hope all peoples and nations rest upon. And so, we began this second week of waiting, lighting the candles of hope and peace, linking the two together on our journey to Christ.

Startlingly, in the first reading for the Second Sunday of Advent, Isaiah speaks of the Christ child we await to bring peace to the world as a judge who will “strike the ruthless” and “slay the wicked” (Isaiah 11:4). We learned that peace cannot reign until evil has been eradicated. Preaching repentance, St. John the Baptist warned the crowd that the one to come will “gather his wheat into his barn but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12).

In the Gospels, we find Jesus gathering his wheat among the poor, blind, lame, outcasts and forgotten. Healing, blessing, feeding and teaching, our Shepherd brings his flock together under his care.

Lifting up his disciples, Jesus sends them as laborers to do the same.

The need for laborers continues today, Jesus calling each and every one of us to be a light to the poor, blind, lame, outcast and forgotten. Together, let us bring his harvest home.

And so I pray: Dear Lord, we pray that those lost in darkness are brought to the Light this Advent. Help us burn ever brightly in Your love, lifting others up to You.

Jane Rutter is a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Columbia.