God will bring them back

Most of us have recovered from the family gathering at Thanksgiving (perhaps) and are now getting ready for the sometimes more stressful family gathering at Christmas (not only do you have to eat together, you have to exchange presents without breaking decorum).

It is during these days that some of us may be forced to deal with the fact that our children or other family members have left the practice of the faith.

Perhaps we may take comfort in these words of prophecy from today's first reading (Baruch 5:1-9)

Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights;
look to the east and see your children
gathered from the east and the west
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing that they are remembered by God.

Led away on foot by their enemies they left you:
but God will bring them back to you...

Even those without children should take comfort in these words, for while it is true that these words apply first to the Jews, the children of Israel, they can easily be extended not only to our own children (biological, adopted, or mentored), but also to our accomplishments in the Lord.

Most of us try to put our faith into action everyday, but there have been times in all of our lives when we may have felt the call to put forth special effort and even make a serious sacrifice as an act of our Christian faith and an extension of Christ's love...

...but things did not turn out the way we had thought or hoped. Other forces pulled events in a different direction, leaving our godly effort in the dust.

Led away on foot by their enemies they left you:
but God will bring them back to you...

People can fool themselves for a long time, but God has made each of us for himself - to be loved by him and to be happy forever with him when he calls us to himself.

There will come a time for each of us human beings when the foolishnesses with which we distract ourselves will collapse and in that emptiness we will hear the word of God anew.

Then, by the grace of the Lord, we will be rejoicing that we are remembered by God, despite all our sins, all our wandering, and all our failures.

The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can bring back our children and all of our loved ones who have fallen away from the fullness of the faith.

The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can bring to glorious fruition all those godly works of ours that seemed to go for naught, so that like seeds beneath the snow and ash of a wretched world, they may flower at last into bountiful life.

Thus we draw strength and encouragement from the Lord in this time of Advent, this time of preparation for the great things that our Lord is about to do.

Thus we may say as St. Paul does in today's second reading (Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11):

I am confident of this,
that the one who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it
until the day of Christ Jesus.