Promises and Responsibilities

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.--Is 11:1

I really love the first of today's readings for Holy Mass. I love the Promise of God in Isaiah: how Christ can bring opposites together. Wonderful. Of course the stump of Jesse part got me to smiling as I am working with the Jesse Tree this Advent. Today's reading and ornament were about Adam and Eve, about their creation,   their weakness and temptation. Oh that free will we were given in our creation! Adam and his Eve were called on their choices right away. The oh-so-familiar decline to admit responsibility started way back then. Why should I think people (myself included) would have that negative part of humanity licked lo these many generations later?  Not so.Yet look at what good God made out of those bad decisions,  He bailed us out with His Son. In today's reading we can read the promise of all the good He can do: wolves and lambs, calves and lions, children and snakes at peace and at rest, at play and in companionship. Christ reconciles opposites. As a Catholic I am called to act as the hand of God, revealing Him on earth here today in reconciling opposites and healing animosities. This is my responsibility. This is Trekking Catholic.