1st Sunday of Advent 2022 - Promises of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love

 

Happy Advent Everyone. 

If you were to pick up the bible, and turn to nearly any page of the holy book, you would be able to discover either God making a promise or God fulfilling a promise. 

God makes his first promise to mankind immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden. God makes a promise that the evil unleashed through sin would be undone by the offspring of the Woman—a promise of a savior dating back to the very moment when mankind was in need of one.  

To Abraham, our father in faith, God made several promises: God promised to make Abraham’s descendants as countless as the stars, that all the nations of the world would come to be blessed through Abraham and his descendants, that God’s people would come to possess land—the promised land—forever, and that the enemies of God would be cast down through the seed of Abraham. Promises that would come to be fulfilled in Christ and his holy Church to which countless members are a blessing to the world. 

After wandering through the desert for 40 years, God promised that all those who search for Him would be able to find him—a promise fulfilled in your life and mine, and all those with the name of Christian who have found God through Christ. 

God promised, indeed, that His love would never fail—that no sin is so great that we would lose His love. Here is the promise that sin could be forgiven and the wounds within humanity would be healed. 

In the Psalms and prophets and the accumulated wisdom literature of ancient Israel, repeated over and over is the promise that those who allow the Word of God and the wisdom of God to light their way, the will know joy, delight, guidance, comfort and peace.

In the first reading, the first scripture of this first Sunday of the first week of Advent, we hear a powerful promise made the Isaiah the prophet. In fact, one might say, that is the job of the prophet—to dictate God’s promises to the people who need to hear them. 

And the promise Isaiah speaks to us is a promise of peace—of a whole world of saints—all the nations of the world, together worshipping the same God, the true God, in great joy in a world without war: They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again

Next Sunday, we’ll hear how this promise of peace will be so all-encompassing that it will even extend to the animals. The wolf will be the guest of the lamb, the calf and the lion will roam the earth side-by-side, instead of one being food for the other. Here is a promise of  the experience of God’s peace, and harmony, and joy.

Does that sound like our world today? Well, far from it. But that is because Isaiah’s vision is a promise of what will yet come to pass. It is a vision of a promise yet fulfilled. A promise that will be fulfilled when Christ comes again, his final Advent. 

But we believe he will come again, on good authority, his own. “I will come back again and take you to myself” he said at the Last Supper. That promise of the Lord’s return will come to pass, just as his first coming, promised by Isaiah when he foretold that the virgin would give birth to a son, the Lord’s first Advent came to pass.

The Lord tells us to prepare ourselves for his return in the Gospel today: we do not know the day nor the hour of the Lord’s return. Readiness for the Lord’s return. The whole Christian life, in a sense, the whole purpose of our faith, is about cultivating readiness—being awakened to the truth about reality—and conforming our lives to that Truth. Nothing could be more important than that; it is a matter, as the Lord explains, of being taken with him into the eternal city of heaven, or being left behind, outside heaven’s gates, excluded from God’s presence, for ever.

St. Paul on this first advent Sunday, guides us on how to prepare for the Lord’s return by casting off , what he calls “the works of darkness”—ridding our lives of lust, drunkenness, rivalry, and jealousy. “Make no provision for the flesh” Paul tells us. We must seek to turn away from our fallen, sinful tendencies and selfish desires and make “no provision” for them…meaning, we aren’t giving them room in our lives to grow, we are remaining vigilant against putting ourselves in the near occasion of sin, we avert our eyes from what leads to sin. When temptation arises, we don’t feed the fire by giving in, but turning to the Lord for help and putting on the armor of light—truth, prayer, faith.

During Advent, we prepare for Christmas and we prepare for the Lord’s final return, by putting on Christ—imitating his virtues—his own love for the poor, his own devotion to the will of the Father, the truth he teaches, the commands he makes, the prayer he practices and teaches, his enmity toward sin and selfishness. 

Throughout this holy season, the beautiful promises of God are reiterated to us anew. The four candles of the Advent wreath stand for four promises: the first candle represents the promise of increased hope, that in a world filled with such chaos, you will have more hope, if you prepare your heart for Jesus to enter it more deeply. The second candle represents the promise of peace—that in a world filled with so much hostility, and frantic, frenetic activity and exhaustion, you will have more peace—spiritual peace; if you prepare your heart for Jesus to enter it more deeply.; the third candle represents God’s promise of increased joy—that in a world with so much sadness and suffering—you will experience greater joy, if you prepare your heart for Jesus to enter it more deeply. And the fourth candle represents greater love—in world where there is loneliness, where God often seems distant, where we fall into sin that makes us feel quite unlovable—you will experience greater love,  if you prepare your heart for Jesus to enter it more deeply.

I promise, the Church promises, that if you seek these things—hope, peace, joy, and love, this Advent,  you will find them, knock and the door will be opened. I promise. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Week of Advent 2018 - Wednesday - Dare we hope?

Of the four weeks of Advent, this first week is characterized by hope, the second by love, the third by joy, and the fourth by peace. But we begin with hope.

Hope is a universal human experience—every human person ever has hoped. They’ve hoped that their lives not be filled with so much suffering; they’ve hoped for happiness. Hope motivates the human quest for happiness. The ancient Greek philosophers, for example, hoped to discern the right way of living that lead to a eudaimonia, as they called it, a happy life.

The hope of the Jewish people fills the sacred scriptures: their hope that God will save them from their enemies, from famine and disease, from political discord, from sin and earth. We hear throughout the Advent season Israel’s hope expressed especially through the prophet Isaiah. We heard today their hope that God would ultimately gather his people upon a holy mountain, where all nations would live in harmony, where they would be fed richly, where they would be saved, and where they would see God face-to-face, because God is not always easy to see amidst the sufferings of life, is He? Even Christians have a hard time seeing God when a loved one dies, when the innocent suffer, when doubts arise about how I’ll feed my family, how I’ll make it to another day. God is hard to see when the powers of death seem to rule and reign.

St. Luke describes Jesus today going up a mountain, and healing the lame, the deformed, the mute, and many others, and then going on to feed a multitude through miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Jesus is the fulfillment of the hopes of all peoples.

Many people, as we know, do not acknowledge Jesus to be the fulfillment of all hope, and they are sadder for it. Pope Benedict writes, “Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. So it must be stretched” Advent stretches our hearts through prayer and charity. Our hearts are stretched to be filled with God’s very life, as we encounter him through prayer and meditation on scripture, and our hearts are stretched as we grow in our awareness of the needs of our suffering brothers and sisters.
This Advent dare we allow ourselves to hope in Jesus more deeply, and to seek him in prayer and charitable service for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That through the witness of the Christian Church, Our Lord will bring hope to the hopeless and joy to the joyless.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, feed every authentic hunger, ward off every affliction, and bring peace to the suffering.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for the Deceased members of the Yurick & Becker familiesfor whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

Tuesday - 1st Week of Advent 2017 - A glimmer of hope

The four candles on the Advent wreath certainly help us count down the weeks until Christmas. The wreath though is more than a primitive calendar, each of the candles represent different themes of the Advent season.

The first candle represents hope: hope in God, hope in his promises, hope for his justice, hope for salvation that only he can bring.

The second candle represents love: the reign of love that the savior comes to establish, the love which should characterize the Christian people’s attitude toward one another, the love we are to extend to the poor and down trodden.

The third candle, the rose colored candle represents joy: the joy that is born at Christmas, the joy of the birth of the savior, the joy of a restored relationship with God, the joy which is a foretaste of the joy of the eternal joy of heaven.

The fourth candle, which will only burn for a few hours this year, due to the proximity of the 4th Sunday and Christmas Eve, represents peace: the peace of that most holy night, the peace of reconciliation and forgiveness and mercy.

Now only a single candle is lit. Sometimes in life all you have is a single candle, a glimmer of hope. For the people of Isaiah’s time, living in the devastation of a ruined divided kingdom, all they had was a promise of hope, spoken through lips of God’s prophet. A promise that despite the terrible destruction—separation from the families, the forces of evil pressing in on every side—God would bring about a reign of justice so great that even wolves and lambs, babies and cobras will be at peace.

Out of what appears to be a dead, hopeless situation, the Lord can cause new life to sprout and rise up. Your stump might be a broken family devastated beyond reconciliation, a ruined marriage without the possibility of reuniting, or a drug-addicted child, whose mind and life cannot be rebuilt.

The single candle reminds us that it is good to have hope that God can bring new life to hopeless situations. For where we see a lifeless wasteland, God sees the potential for abundant life. Where we see devestation, God sees the seeds of new life. Let your hearts dare to hope, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That through the witness and charity of the Christian Church, Our Lord will bring hope to the hopeless and joy to the joyless.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.  We pray to the Lord.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

For Pope Francis prayer intention for the month of December, “That the elderly, sustained by families and Christian communities, may apply their wisdom and experience to spreading the faith and forming the new generations.”

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant tha the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Sunday of Advent 2017 - Preparing well for Christ's coming

The most important things in life require some preparation. When parents discover they are expecting a new child, they prepare a room for the child, a crib, the room is decorated, clothes are purchased, a baby shower is thrown. When a couple becomes engaged for marriage, they prepare, they plan. They meet with the priest for marriage preparation, they attend a pre-cana day, the reception is planned, the wedding garments are acquired, a home is made ready.

Similarly, when a young man realizes his call to the priesthood, his seminary formation involves nine years of college, experience in different ministerial settings like visiting the sick in hospitals and nursing homes, visiting the imprisoned, learning how to craft a homily, teach in the classroom, and celebrate the sacraments.

Even our young ones know about preparing for important events. Our second graders celebrated their First Confession two weeks ago. Before the big day, they learned about sin and about the mercy Jesus extends to us in the Sacrament of Confession; they learned their act of contrition, and the need to do penance for their sins.

Over the next few months, they will prepare for their First Holy Communion by learning about how Jesus gave to His Church the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, teaching that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood shall have eternal life and will be raised on the last day.

We prepare for new jobs, a new driver’s license, new babies, new vocations. Jesus in the Gospel teaches very clearly that we are to prepare for his second coming. For his glorious return and for the end of our earthly lives we prepare for eternity by confessing our sins and conforming our minds and hearts to his. And for that hour “you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming.” You even get the impression from his words, that many will be unprepared, and this is very foolish.

For the most important things we undertake preparation. And I’d venture to say that the more important the event, the longer and more serious the preparation. So, it makes sense that the two most important feasts of the Church year, Christmas and Easter, are each preceded by entire liturgical seasons of preparation. The season of Lent, with its penances, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, helps us to prepare for Easter, the celebration of Our Lord’s Victory over Sin and Death.

And now we begin the great season of Advent, which helps us to prepare for the feast of the saving birth of Our Lord at Christmas. Even the Scripture readings on this 1st Sunday of Advent help us to take seriously the need to prepare well for Christmas: “"Be watchful! Be alert!... May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.”

Being found sleeping, like the unwise Virgins in the Gospel a few weeks ago, is certainly one of the dangers of this time of year: to get so caught up in the commercialization, the food, the decorations, the secular, that we are inattentive to the greater spiritual and religious dimension—the reason for the season, as they say.

So, in order to keep Christ in Christmas, we need to be serious about our Advent preparations. And so what are some of the tried and true practices of preparing well, spiritually, during Advent?

Well, the liturgy of Advent certainly gives us some hints. The major liturgical symbol of Advent is, of course, the Advent wreath. Each family does well to have an Advent wreath in the home, perhaps as the centerpiece of the dinner table, or perhaps on a small altar in the family room.

The family Advent wreath can help the family remain spiritually focused during Advent. The circular wreath reminds us of God’s eternal love who sends his only Son to be our redeemer. The evergreen of the wreath reminds us of the everlasting life we receive only through the birth of our Savior. The light of the candles represent the light of Christ, who entered this world to scatter the darkness of evil and show us the way of righteousness. The progression of lighting candles shows our increasing readiness to meet Our Lord.

So don’t be afraid to light the candles of the wreath: I suggest lighting them at dinner time, along with a special advent prayer or reading of Scripture along with your grace before meals. If the family is so busy that you don’t have time for family dinner together, which is lamentable, perhaps take ten minutes before bedtime to say some prayers at the Advent wreath together.

The candle is also a wonderful symbol for Christian prayer. As the candle burns, it burns in silence, yet its flame is powerful, giving off heat and warmth; even the smallest flame burns and purifies. The candle reminds us the power and importance of increased prayer during this season.
Individually, I recommend prayerfully reading the scripture from daily Mass every day. Prayerfully read through and meditate on these readings; ask God what lessons they contain for living the Christian faith well and preparing well for Christmas. The daily Scripture readings are listed in the bulletin and can also be found on the US Bishops website.

Also, consider attending daily Mass, if but one additional time per week, or even one additional time per month! You will discover great peace and strength which flows from attending Mass daily.
The second lesson from our Advent liturgy is that we are now shrouded and vested in purple. Purple is the color a priest wears when he hears confession. Purple is the color of penance.

So, if it’s been more than a few months, plan on making a good Sacramental Confession either on Saturday or at our parish’s Advent Penance service this season. Parents, give your children the great gift of seeing you go to confession. The memory of seeing my mother go into the confessional ahead of me is burned indelibly in my mind. Also, if there is a family member who hasn’t been to confession in a while, invite them to come with you. It could be as simple as “Hey, I’m going up to the Church for confession, do you want to come?”

Before going to confession make a proper examination of conscience. There is even an app for that. Or feel free to write down your sins and bring the list into the confessional if that will aid you.
Penitential purple also reminds us to detach from earthly things in order to focus on heavenly ones. Perhaps this season you can clean out a chest or closet of clothes or toys and donate them to charity. If there is a neighbor you haven’t talked to in several months or someone new to the neighborhood, give them a tin of cookies, not because they are Catholic but because you are.

Prepare to celebrate Christmas by putting your faith first this Advent. By striving to live in the presence of Christ, with the mind and heart of Christ this Advent, you will prepare room for him to dwell in you this Christmas, for the glory of God and salvation.