ADVENT REFLECTIONS
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT DECEMBER 1, 2024
We begin the first week of Advent, a season of preparation and waiting. What are we preparing for and what are we waiting for? Is it a holiday? Is it gifts? Is it family gatherings? Is it snow? It may be. But this is not what the Church’s Liturgical Season of Advent is about.
Advent is a time when we ponder the great mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of God coming and dwelling with us in physical form. Jesus shares in our humanity that we may share in His Divinity. What a gift!
God the Son came and took on our human nature and all that goes along with being human. And though He never sinned, He knows the effects of sin, the burden, the dysfunction, the evil that runs rampant in this world. God comes to deliver us from our sins,.
Advent is a time of waiting. Waiting is hard. Waiting in traffic jam, waiting for test results, waiting in lines to check out, waiting to get on the internet…Our ancestors waited centuries for the birth of the promised Messiah.
Fifteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, Isaiah prophesied, “…a son is given to us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, and Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, Isaiah 9:6
Hundreds of years later, born in Bethlehem, a small town in the Roman Empire, their hope is finally realized but Jesus is not the earthly warrior-king many expected…
“though he was in the form of God he did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” Phillipians 2:6-11.
PREPARE FOR COMING OF JESUS?
PRAYER sustains and nurtures our relationship with our triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
FASTING assists us in getting our own house in order. All of us have to deal with areas of addiction, whether in regard to immoderate use of smoking, alcohol consumption… Deny ourselves worldly appetites and goods so that we may be more attached to God the giver of all good gifts.
ALMSGIVING Jesus was always concerned about those who were poor and in need. To be a disciple of Christ means to live a life of charity.
Are we prepared to meet our new born King? Don’t let grudges and resentments fester; keep your relationships in good repair. Is our “Spiritual” house cleaned? If not, why not? Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation; bring our sins before Christ and seek his forgiveness.
Give thanks to the Lord, His mercy endures forever!
Be ready to journey with Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. Ready to adore our new born king!
MARANATHA COME LORD JESUS