Here we are at the second Sunday of Advent. The word advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning the coming. The four Sundays in the liturgical season of Advent are given to us so that we may remember what God has done, in the coming of the Lord in history and prepare for what God will do, in the coming of the Lord at the end of history.
What God has done: The Creator of all that is has offered the creatures of creation a covenant…a personal relationship of love. This covenant was first made manifest through the lives of Abraham and Sarah, then through the faithfulness of Jacob and his son Joseph and the whole people, called Israel. This covenant was given a definitive shape through the servant Moses and the gift of the Law (the Torah), and was renewed through the powerful word of God spoken through Isaiah and Jeremiah and the other prophets. Finally, in the fullness of time, this covenant of God’s love for us was born into the flesh and blood of our humanity, in the birth of the Christ-child, the promised Anointed One of Israel. This communication of God… God’s one Word to humanity… was given in the Son, born in simplicity and in obedience, to be Messiah (Christ) and King. What the invisible God has done is to take on the visibility and the poverty of our humanity, for the Word of God has been born to us in the flesh and blood of Jesus… son of Mary, son of David, Son of God. This Son of God has crushed the power of sin (seen in our broken humanity) through his sacrificial obedience. We are called in faith, to remember what God has done in the great Divine Liturgy of Christmas. It is joy for the whole world, the birth of our Savior and Lord.
What God will do: If there is a God…and we believe that God lives…then God’s will and purpose will be accomplished. Remember that incredibly, this living God desires a relationship with the creatures of creation. We see this in the way God reveals to us something of His being. In this revelation of God, we have been told that we are called to prepare the Way of the Lord by remembering all that we have been given, and look ahead, to all that we have been promised. And what have we been promised? That God is with us (Emmanuel) and that we are destined to be with God (in and through the Love of Father and Son and Holy Spirit).
To remember and to prepare: I hope that each of you reading this column will join me in this Advent season of preparation, as we look forward to the celebration of Christmas, and to the coming of the Kingdom promised to us. One way that you and I may prepare for Christmas is by seeking whatever reconciliation is needed in our lives. Please join me at our Advent Penance Service, to be held on Monday evening, the 17th of December. We will gather together at 7:00 P.M. on the 17th, to be honest about ourselves and our need for God’s Presence. My friends, this is the best “Christmas present” you can offer your family, to be reconciled to God and to the community of the Church…and to taste again the joy of a clean heart.
As we work together, in raising the funds we need and in Building a Legacy of Faith, with a new worship space, a fellowship hall and the needed rooms for ministry and catechesis, we must remember that the heart and soul of this parish is not in what we build but in how we fill those new buildings with a parish family in love with God and with one another. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus…loving God and neighbor.
AMDG
Msgr. David
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