A sign for you: \u00a0an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Lk 2, 12)<\/i><\/p>\n
God urges us to ask for a sign, even one that is extraordinary.\u00a0 But we do not like signs too much.\u00a0 We want our liberation right now, thinking little of the harm that may result.\u00a0 Notwithstanding our no, God gives us a sign.<\/p>\n
Ahaz says no.\u00a0 The situation is urgent, so the king rushes headlong into an Assyrian alliance, with terrible consequences.\u00a0 The short-term solution brings about in the long-run worse problems.\u00a0 He learns the hard way.<\/p>\n
Righteous Joseph, in contrast, does not carry out the quick decision that seems demanded by his discovery of the mysterious pregnancy.\u00a0 Rather, he obeys the angel of the Lord.\u00a0 Thus he finds strength in quiet trust (Is 30, 15).\u00a0 By faith he attains intimacy with \u201cGod-with-us,\u201d the long-term salvation.<\/p>\n
Among us, of course, it should be nothing of Ahaz, but rather everything of Jesus\u2019 foster father.\u00a0 Unlike the king, we will heed the warning:\u00a0 \u201cUnless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm\u201d (Is 7, 9).\u00a0 We will not be so entrenched in our certainties and resolutions that we hinder God and know only \u201ca god who fits our measure\u201d (Pope Francis).<\/p>\n
We will not rush into supporting any war, for example, without considering the conditions of a just war.\u00a0 We will question even the just war theory, given the destructive character in a massive way of modern weapons.\u00a0 With the peril of a war that annihilates, \u201cit no longer makes sense to maintain that war is a fit instrument with which to repair the violation of justice\u201d (Pacem in Terris<\/i> 127; GS<\/i> 4), or that it will not be like blowing up a house to get rid of cockroaches.<\/p>\n
Nor shall we lock ourselves up in our assets, interests and whims, in \u201cexcessive centralization\u201d (Evangelii Gaudium<\/i> 32), in the myth that we have absolute control over our bodies.\u00a0 We shall respect life that is other than ours, whether beginning, nascent, already born, mature or declining, no matter how bothersome we may find it, insignificant, despicable and even deserving of the death penalty.\u00a0 We will widen our horizon and will not be like those described by St. Vincent de Paul as lazy people \u201cwho confine their views and plans to a fixed circumference\u201d (Coste XI, 92).<\/p>\n
In the spirit of St. Joseph, we will consider trust in God as \u201cthe strength of the weak and the eye of the blind,\u201d especially when all seems to be lost (Coste, III, 149; Rules of the D.C.<\/i> I, 8).\u00a0 God saves the one who says to him, \u201cYou are my only hope\u201d (Ps 39, 8-9).\u00a0 Our wealth and wisdom cannot save us; only God can ransom us from death, the lot of those who trust in their riches and the self-complacent who flatter themselves (Ps 49).<\/p>\n
And the sign that increases our trust in God is Jesus, the glory in the highest and, on earth, the grace and peace of greetings and best wishes.\u00a0 Strong in weakness because he trusts in the Father, he offers himself in the manger and the Eucharist as food.\u00a0 He thus shows the basis of all liberation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"