Time runs fast! The third SUNDAY of ADVENT is here! This is the SUNDAY of conversion, of lifegiving!

An advertisement’s punch line says, “What’s in your wallet?” I would like to copy that as the punch line of today’s gospel, and paraphrase it this way, “What’s in your heart?” If your wallet keeps your money, credit cards, driver’s license, your heart protects your love and life, your hope and faith. If your wallet keeps your identification on earth, your heart possesses your identification in heaven. If your wallet keeps your material sustenance, your heart maintains your spiritual nourishment.

The heart’s ability to re-direct our focus on Christ is embedded in this encounter between John’s disciples with Jesus. John’s disciples asked Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Their eyes were blind, and their hearts were confused. Jesus opened them by saying: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”

Jesus unwrapped to them the gifts of life through miracles:

• The blind was able to see, and was given sight and insight. A good sight brings a good insight. He had the eyes of Christ, and now he sees life in God’s view. And the lame was able to walk, and given the energy to “walk the talk.” When he became a believer, he became God’s messenger.
• The lepers were cleansed, and also healed spiritually. They became wounded healers - living a reconciled and reconciling way of life. And the deaf was able to hear, and became a good listener of the WORD of God. They became good evangelizers - in words and more so in deeds.
• The dead were raised to new life and became disciples – life-givers who are willing “to lay down their lives for one’s friends!” And the poor were fed from every WORD that comes from the mouth of God! They became builders of a “Church where no one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and a Church where no one is so rich as to have nothing to receive”.

For your faith sharing, light the third candle of ADVENT and reflect on these questions: “What’s in your heart that you can pass on to others?” Is it love or hatred, joy or sadness, hope or despair, faith or doubt, life or death?