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I’ve been happily living the adventure of faith in recent days. Yesterday morning I was with the parish leadership team in the MacKenzie country – the church communities of Fairlie & Twizel. I’m always grateful for these invitations and always inspired by the presence and wisdom of those who gather.

We’ve experienced Advent so many times that when we see the word we probably don’t connect it with another word it looks like – ADVENTURE.

One of my regular go-to passages of scripture is from Sirach (Ecclesiasticus): “If you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an adventure”. Sirach 2:1

If you aspire to follow Jesus prepare yourself for an adventure which demands maturity.

As one of my great mentors reminds me: the circumstances that I am in, whatever they are, however difficult, unwanted or unwarranted, God allows me to be in for my maturity. (Luigi Giussani).

So if I want to be mature in faith (and I do) then I need to see the circumstances that I am in, whatever they are, as the place where Jesus is working in me, moulding me into His image.

I suppose that another way of thinking of it is that while it is true to say we have been (past tense) created by God, it is even more true to say that every day we are being created (present tense) by God.

I like that image since every day I feel this creative act happening -sometimes a tender embrace, other moments a hard moulding with some sudden and shocking realignments.

I find joy and peace when I co-operate with God’s creative action.

This is the Advent adventure.

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Cafe Gatherings are beginning again. Just send me date, time and place, with your name, turn up and write FFF on a napkin in the centre of the table, and with whoever turns up chat about your experience of God in the last few days.

NB  Due to a technical hitch today some of you may have missed the daily Lectio Divina. You can find today’s Lectio at this link.

You can also find today’s Homily Studio at this link.