I read an article in the newspaper the other day that listed the most annoying words of 2013. These came from an annual study done by a Michigan university that suggests words to banish due to overuse, over-reliance and overall fatigue. These are the some of the words: selfie, twerking, hashtag, Twittersphere, t-bone, Obamacare, intellectually/morally bankrupt, and anything on “steroids.” Also, people were tired of the suffixes “-pocalypse” and “-ageddon” use to make words such as “snow-pocalypse” or “ice-ageddon.”
As we are just two days into the new year, we look ahead to 2014 to be better; not only for less annoying words, but with hopes to better our world, better our communities, and to better ourselves so that we will become better people. (This is what New Years Resolutions are all about.) We don’t know what 2014 will bring, but we are sure of one thing: Christ is coming!
In today’s first reading (1 John 2:22-28), the author is pointing to the final coming of Christ. In the Gospel reading (John 1:19-28), John the Baptist reminds us that between Jesus’ first and final coming, that Christ continues to come. Whatever happens in this new year, Christ will come to us in many different ways.
However, we will NOT recognize Jesus if we do not open ourselves. We need to be more aware of God’s presence in our daily lives. We need to see and appreciate the beauty of God’s creation around us. We need to see and experience God in our sisters and brothers, regardless of their race, religion, or social status. We need to hear and heed God’s word that is spoken to us in the scriptures. And we need to pray and listen so that we can know what God wants us to do for him.
The year 2014 could be a great year for us, and we can become better people and live in a better world – if we resolve to make it so!
Christ is coming! Christ is here!
