15 December 2018
Saturday of the Second Week of Advent
The passage from today’s gospel comes just after the disciples have seen Jesus transfigured in all his radiant beauty. Jesus had let his disciples into the mystery of who he truly is. Nonetheless, the disciples continue to have questions. “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus gives them an answer. Elijah came in the person of John the Baptist. But he also told them something else. In the same way that the Baptist suffered, “so also will the Son of Man suffer.” Did they understand that?
It is impossible to fully grasp the mystery of God’s love and his salvation in our lives, at least in this life. We will only fully grasp it in the life that is to come. The life we live here is but a preparation for the awesome wonders we will contemplate in Heaven. For that life we prepare, and in that life we hope, by drawing ever closer to Him.