The Jesse Tree Series: The threat of False Gods-Monday of the Third Week of Advent

THE JESSE TREE SERIES:

What does Monday of the Third week of Advent entail for our Jesse Tree:

THE THREAT OF FALSE GODS.

SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 17:1-16: the sacrifice on Carmel.

Elijah proposed to the king to seek a judgment from God, a miracle will show the almighty power of God and will reveal the non-existence of Baal.  The question is who is the true God, God or Baal? The monotheistic faith is at stake.

I Kings 18: 17-46: Elijah travels towards Horeb.

The prophet flees to escape the vengeance of the queen.  He becomes dispirited and wishes he were dead.  God sends his servant food and drink which give him the strength to continue his journey towards Horeb.  The forty days pilgrimage across the desert is a figure of the forty days of Lent which prepares us for the Easter festivities.  In the Eucharist we find the food necessary for our journey toward eternity.

THE PERSON: ELIJAH

Elijah is important because as a prophet, he heard from God and despite how crazy or strange God's requests to him were, he always was obedient.

THE EVENT/THEME: THE THREAT OF FALSE GODS:  During our reflection time today, let us ponder on the threat of false Gods in our lives.

We may wish to

1.            Offer a prayer of repentance for the false gods in our lives.

2.            Rediscover the understanding that when we seek God and He tells us to do something, we can follow Elijah's example and be obedient to God's wishes.

3.            Make a practical commitment: As today's theme is the threat of false Gods, we may wish to:

o        make a list of the false gods in our lives in our lives, and repent of each one of them during this advent season.

o        As we review the use of false gods in our lives, we may wish to renew our baptismal promises when we rejected Satan, refused to be mastered by sin and live according to Christ and His Church. You may find the text for the renewal of baptismal promises here.

SYMBOL 16:  RAVEN OF PLENTY OR STONE ALTAR  

 Let us remember the prophet Elijah.  The Lord sent the raven to provide food and drink to Elijah during time of famine.  Let us continue t trust in God's providence in our lives as we prepare our sixteenths symbol (fifteenth cut out symbol) and place it on the tree.