Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent
So here we are on the very, very last day of Advent. We've been preparing for Jesus' coming, and for the great feast of Christmas in all kinds of ways. One of my favorite parts of the season is the way people really do a lot of giving to those who are less fortunate, whether it's an angel tree gift, or work at a soup kitchen, or donation of canned goods. The giving at this time of year has gotten to the point that most charities expect to receive a small windfall at Christmas, partly so that they can make it through the next year. Children tend to expect presents, and adults tend to expect the pleasure of eating a large meal and watching football afterward. We also come to expect those traditions year after year. In my own family, for instance, it wouldn't quite feel like Christmas unless we watch Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" or eat homemade hot chocolate with thick slices of Christmas bread while my dad reads from the gospel of Luke. There'd be a letdown - like we hadn't quite celebrated the feast enough. In other words, we expect a lot from Christmas - emotionally, spiritually, and physically - and we hope that our preparations will live up to the expectations we've placed on them.
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent
We have journeyed along this Advent season in joyful expectation for the coming of Christ; now in these last days we are particularly focusing on Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. For those of us who have had many Christmas preparations – shopping for gifts, preparing food, decorating a house, and so on – we find that there are now only a few days left in which to wrap the gifts and plan the holiday meal. That long wait is now abbreviated into just a few days. Christmas is near at hand.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
In reflecting upon the readings today one of my favorite Mary songs came to mind. The song “Breath of Heaven” is sung in first person as having the voice of Mary. This ‘Mary’s Song’ imagines a Mary who prayerfully invites the Holy Spirit to breathe upon her so that she might accomplish what the Lord is asking of her; “So I offer all I am, for the mercy of Your plan.” The scriptural song of Mary is from today’s gospel. In her Magnificat, we hear a servant’s psalm of praise that echoes the fulfillment of Old Testament promises.
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
One of my most favorite hymns is a Quaker song we sing at mass sometimes, with a refrain that goes: "No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that rock I'm clinging! Since Love is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?" This song has been one on my mind in times when I've had doubts about my faith, or times when I've felt more than a little beaten down by some of the hard things in life. The image of clinging to a rock, a rock that is Love and Lord of all, is exactly what I feel sometimes about my faith and life. But even more important is the message that the end of this refrain gives: "How can I keep from singing?" The song reminds me not only that God keeps me, but that my response, no matter what, is to be one of song.
Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
The prophecy from Isaiah 7:10-14 is the same reading that we heard read just yesterday at Sunday Mass. Isaiah’s prophecy to king Ahaz, “A virgin shall conceive a bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel,” is interpreted as one of the direct references to Mary and Jesus. Mary is the virgin and Emmanuel is Jesus. However, even before this prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus, there was a more immediate fulfilment.
Fourth Sunday of Advent
The first reading and the gospel readings bring out the contrast between Ahaz and Joseph. Let us talk first talk about Ahaz. As king of Judah, he and the nation were being threatened by the Assyrians. What should he do in response to the threat? He had two options: to trust God against his enemies or to make a political alliance with smaller nations (the Syro-Ephramite Alliance) as a defense against the Assyrians. As the prophet of the time, Isaiah’s advice was clear. He wanted Ahaz to trust God unconditionally. His rationale was simple. If God had come through for the Israelites against the Pharaoh and the might Egyptians, then God could do the same for Ahaz. So he tried to persuade Ahaz to ask for a sign. Ahaz refused – not because, as he says, he does want to tempt the Lord (I think Ahaz was playing games with God), but because he’d rather trust the political alliance. Somehow he found himself incapable of being faithful to God. Even though Ahaz is not faithful, God promises that God will be faithful. Thus the prophecy, “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son…” (Is 7:14)
Saturday of the Third Week of Advent
As we enter into the final days of preparation for Christmas, we are presented with two types of fear– a holy fear of the Lord and a prideful fear of losing earthly power.
In her great Magnificat, Mary sings of the greatness of the God who “has mercy on hose who fear Him in every generation.” Mary would have known well the song of Hannah that we have for today as the responsorial psalm.
Friday of the Third Week of Advent
As you probably have noticed, I have used these Friday reflections in Advent to think about the symbolism of the Advent wreath. Today, I'm thinking about the symbolism of the pink candle, the third candle we light in Advent, whose symbolic meaning is "joy." The candle is pink (and this week's vestments are pink) because we are now halfway to the feast of Christmas and that fact alone is meant to give us joy. (Likewise, we have a similar halfway point in Lent, where one Sunday is pink and marks the halfway point to the feast of Easter.)
Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
Waiting can be hard to do. We all know that anxiety which can come from waiting for a loved one to return, waiting to be reunited with someone we have not seen for a long time. At my house, when we know the approximate time of someone’s arrival, the kids start to look out the front windows or even ask to go sit on the porch. They want to be able to see the guests at the very moment they pull up into the driveway.
Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
Messengers and their messages are not always as straight forward as we would expect. Often the busyness of our day and the clutter of lives can obscure profound messages. This seems more true in this season of preparation we call Advent. The to-do-list for Christmas often gets higher priority than Advent. The contrast is striking. On one level, we are shopping, decorating, cooking, cleaning and preparing for the important celebration that is Christmas. On another level we are being called to empty ourselves to make room for the Lord in our lives.
Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church
Today’s readings continue the Advent theme of the coming of Christ, with a particular focus on His final coming at the end of history. The reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew as well as the first portion of the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Zephaniah both tell of future judgment. We could go in many directions with the rich readings presented to us today, but I especially want to focus on the second half of the first reading from Zephaniah, in light of Jesus’ first coming.
Memorial of Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr
In this penultimate week of the liturgical season of Advent, we find ourselves with first readings taken from a selection of Old Testament books. These passages will highlight the Christological reading of the Old Testament; in other words, we find the coming of Jesus foretold in the books of the Hebrew Scriptures which became known as our “Old Testament” and which were written centuries before the birth of the infant Jesus.
Third Sunday of Advent
My focus today is on Isaiah’s proclamation in today’s first reading, “Here is Your God!” It is as if he was holding God in his hands and showing God to the Hebrew people. It was as if Isaiah was trying to bring close to the people a God who was thought of as being far away. Isaiah says, “Here is your God!” In this homily, I would like to reconcile the ‘otherness’ of God with God’s imminence. There is nothing more relevant as we prepare ourselves for Christmas.
Saturday of the Second Week of Advent
In the tradition of Jewish hope for the Messiah, the one who would come and restore God’s reign, there was an expectation that the great prophet Elijah would come back as a forerunner to the Messiah, an indication that the one who came after was indeed God’s servant who will save His people from oppression. In the first reading, we see a recitation of this expectation of Elijah’s return, “You were destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the Lord,To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.” And in the gospel, Jesus alludes to Elijah’s suffering such that it was clear to the disciples that he was identifying John the Baptist with Elijah. The Baptist is indeed the forerunner to Jesus, the Messiah. It is not as clear as was expected.
Friday of the Second Week of Advent
The second candle in the Advent wreath stands for peace. Peace, in the ways we tend to use the word in our culture, refers to the fact that we agree with each other, or at least, we "agree to disagree" (aka "Let's just never ever bring up this subject again..."). We use it to refer to having harmonious relationships with family members, friends, and politically, with other nations or between political parties.
Thursday of the Second Week of Advent
“The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and of great kindness” (Ps. 145:8). This is our response for today’s psalm, and it encapsulates one of the themes of Advent, namely God’s merciful gift in his Son Jesus, who will come to us as an infant at Christmas and who will come again at the end to claim all who belong to his kingdom.
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
In the Baltimore Catechism there are many questions and answers. While I did not grow up in the era of having to memorize it, I have learned a few questions and their answers. The question, “Why did God make you?” jumped into my head in reflecting on today’s readings. The answer makes clear what otherwise seems a difficult existential question. God made me to know, love and serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next. It means that we need to live as faithful disciples.
Memorial of Saint Ambrose, bishop and doctor of the Church
During Advent I’ve found that I’m usually so busy that it’s often difficult to find time for significant reflection on the deeper spiritual significance of the season. One thing that helps this is to keep in mind scripture that is relevant to the season. Thankfully, the readings for today present us with the illuminating and vivid image of the good shepherd.
In the first reading, Isaiah announces the coming of the Lord God. For centuries, one way that Christians have interpreted these pronouncements by Isaiah has been an announcement of the coming of Jesus. Consequently, reading Isaiah during Advent helps us to prepare to celebrate Christmas, for at Christmas we celebrate the mystery of the second person of the Trinity having assumed human nature and lived among us as a fellow human being. Furthermore, the passage also looks ahead to Jesus’ second coming as well.
Monday of the Second Week of Advent
In this second week of Advent, we continue hearing the beautiful words of the prophet Isaiah, as he describes the coming of the Lord. These words are particularly appropriate for Advent because they indicate a longing, a desire for something which is lacking, something which has not yet come. Isaiah not only imagines a better world, but he implies the sorrows and sufferings of the world before the coming of the Lord: feeble hands, weak knees, frightened hearts, blind eyes, deaf ears, and so on. Our world, as we have inherited it, is far from perfect.Advent is a wonderful season where we long for the coming of Christ both at the end of time and in the stable at Bethlehem. And yet, while we are longing for the coming of Christ, we know to that he has already come; Isaiah’s words have been fulfilled in the person of Jesus. In this sense, Advent is as much about the right now as it is about the not yet. Right now our God comes to save us. Right now we receive God in the Eucharist. Right now we have already been saved. Right now our salvation is at hand. Even in our imperfect world, God has come for us and is here for us just as he will be at the end of time.
Second Sunday of Advent
As we can understand, during the four Sunday’s of advent, the scripture readings are chosen very carefully. There are particular things that the Church wants us to know as we prepare for the birthday of Jesus. I am going to give you a little bible study here. First, the messiah must come from the tribe or the house of Judah. Jesse, who we hear about in the first reading, was King David’s father and he was of the house of Judah. God had made a promise to David, that his kingdom and his lineage would be secure forever. Jesus, through his foster father Joseph, came from the lineage of David. In this way, Jesus is the “shoot of Jesse” that Isaiah talks about in today’s first reading (Is 11:1).