Advent

2nd Week of Advent, Friday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord invites us to go beyond the superficial in the Advent season and seek not only merriment or consolation, but a source of true and lasting joy. If Advent is characterized by John the Baptist, someone calling for repentance and conversion, the superficial see this as crazy, and just keep looking for a drinking buddy with which to drown their sorrows, not believing a path back to joy is possible. With so many dramatic family situations in the modern world Advent and Christmas are a painful reminder of a joy ever never possessed or lost, with nothing during the holidays to distract oneself from sobering realizations.

Christmas is characterized by Our Lord, a time for celebration, but also a time to find something deeper than the next party, treat or present before the season is over. If Advent is an opportunity to seek a deeper source of joy, the superficial see a little holiday happiness as enough, and then back to work and the daily grind. They can experience a similar emptiness to those drowning their sorrows, but they try to ignore it by keeping the party going.

Our Lord reminds us in the face of these attitudes that wisdom is justified by her works. Wisdom is what we’re looking for to find not only joy, but a source of joy. Jesus is the Wisdom of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:24) and also God’s power: he is able to help us go deep and tap the source of true joy that can sustain us in happy or sad moments. Feelings come and go, but joy remains. During Advent we prepare for the coming of the Prince of Peace, and, as he reminds us, his peace is not like the world’s (cf. John 14:27). Let’s continue to live this Advent as a time to prepare and welcome the Prince of Peace who’ll take us beyond happiness or sorrow to a deep joy.

Readings: Isaiah 48:17–19; Psalm 1:1–4, 6; Matthew 11:16–19. See also 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday.

2nd Week of Advent, Thursday

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To understand the momentous revelation Our Lord makes today for his listeners we have to imagine what it was like to hear prophet after prophet promise, generation after generation, century after century that the Messiah was coming, only to have to keep waiting. Today Our Lord tells them, and us, that the wait is all but over: John the Baptist is the last prophet, the prophet who would come as a new Elijah right before the arrival of the Messiah. A promise made through the prophets for centuries is about to be fulfilled in Jesus.

In Advent we celebrate that long wait drawing to an end, but also that events are about to take a dramatic turn for the better. When Our Lord describes John as least in the Kingdom of heaven, he is telling us that if we considered John blessed to be a prophet with a special mission and relationship with God, we would be even more blessed if we believed in Our Lord and formed a part of his Kingdom, a Kingdom he’ll inaugurate with his incarnation and birth.

Advent is a time to help us grow in joyful expectation and hope. Let’s ask Our Lord for a great faith that his promises will be fulfilled in our lives if we believe in him. Let’s ask for his blessings as we prepare for Christmas.

Readings: Isaiah 41:13–20; Psalm 145:1, 9–13ab; Matthew 11:11–15.

2nd Week of Advent, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord invites us to learn from his example be being meek and humble of heart as a way to find rest for our souls. We see this epitomized in that empty manger we’re contemplating during the Advent season. We know the newborn Jesus is rarely depicted as crying or fussy, but we also know the humble beginnings he wished for his earthly ministry. He didn’t pick a royal family or a palace in which to take flesh, but the lowly Mary aided by the quiet and gentle St. Joseph. As human he started as a child like everyone else; as God he decided to start the work of our redemption in a childlike way.

Advent is a season that often softens our hearts, and in a world that seems harsh and cruel, softening your heart doesn’t seem the realistic or practical thing to do. In those moments where we’re tempted to exchange brusqueness for brusqueness, snide remark for snide remark, harshness for harshness,  or temper tantrum for temper tantrum we have to remember how many situations are defused by meekness and humility of heart in response. Hearts often soften and warm when an infant is brought into a room, and meekness and humility can often have the same effect.

If you have a stressful moment, consider the manger today, occupied or unoccupied, and it will help you be meek and humble of heart.

Readings: Isaiah 40:25–31; Psalm 103:1–4, 8, 10; Matthew 11:28–30. See also 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday.

2nd Week of Advent, Monday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord reminds us what a great grace it is for us to receive forgiveness through the mediation of others. When the scribes and Pharisees in today’s Gospel are shocked that Our Lord would presume to forgive sins, Our Lord doesn’t keep silent as if to maintain the secret that he is God; rather, he uses the healing as a sign that the Son of Man has authority “on earth” to forgive sins. When we leave the confessional we have the relief of knowing that if we’ve made a good confession we’re forgiven: it’s the first day of the rest of our spiritual life. The challenges don’t go away, but we know we can make a fresh start.

Our Lord doesn’t just want to dispense his mercy in eternity; God has opened the “roof” of history and arranged for those paralyzed by sin to receive the help they need to encounter his Son and be forgiven. During Advent we remember that Our Lord doesn’t come to condemn us, but to forgive us. We rejoice because we are forgiven and loved by God.

A special time of mercy has begun with Advent; let’s rejoice that our forgiveness it at hand, and help others draw closer to the fount of mercy as well.

Readings: Isaiah 35:1–10; Psalm 85:9–14; Luke 5:17–26. See also 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday.

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2nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

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Advent is a time of penitence and conversion, but one characterized by Messianic hope: our penance and conversion are about to experience a boost and a means to bear fruit in the birth of Our Lord at Christmas. As St. Paul describes it in today’s Second Reading: “the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Our Lord enables us to definitively leave our sinful past and ways behind, and that is a cause for joyful hope.

As Baruch in today’s First Reading exhorts the Israelites to get ready to change from their garments of penance to those of joy, we know that soon the sorrowful purple vestments and the embargo on the “Glory Be” in Mass,will give way to the white vestments of our Sunday best and the Glory of the birth of Our Lord. In the Gospel today the Holy Spirit mobilizes St. John the Baptist to get the people of Israel ready: Advent gets us ready. Not only do we reach out to God; in the Incarnation God also reaches out to us. Through penance and striving for conversion we’re reaching out to God so that he can reach out to us; we can try to take his hand to help us up, or we can avoid it. The choice is ours.

Conversion and salvation are within reach. Let’s prepare a good path for Our Lord.

Readings: Baruch 5:1–9; Psalm 126:1–6; Philippians 1:4–6, 8–11; Gospel Luke 3:1–6.