Advent 2005 – He Comes! The King of Glory

December 4th

Second Saturday of Advent

Untasted Cookies

Last Advent, while I was baking Christmas cookies with my children, I shared with them some old world Advent traditions that I had read in a book about Maria von Trapp (the real Maria, not the Julie Andrews version). When I told them that, in Maria’s family, many cookies were baked during Advent, but none were consumed until Christmams a small uproar ensued. How impossible, how unfair! The thought of baking cookies without tasting at least a few seemed cruel and unusal punishment, especially during the Christmas season
But it wasn’t the Christmas season, I reminded my children. It was Advent. And for children – indeed for all of us – it is hard to remain in Advent while most of the rest of the world has been celebrating Christmas since Halloween decorations came down.
It helps during this time to reflect on the austere figure of John the Baptist. Scripture tells us that John was “clothed in camel’s har, with a leather belt around his waist.” He ate locusts and he avoided strong drink. John lived in anticipation of the coming of one greater than he. His life shows us that it is worth it to wait for something. He points to Someone worth waiting for.

Lisa Lickona

Loving Father, fill all my expectation with your Presence and make my waiting an occasion of grace.

Monday, December 5

Monday of the Second Week of Advent

What We Need to Hear

The friends of the paralyzed man in today’s Gospel went to great efforts to bring their friend to Jesus. When they were prevented by the crowd from approaching Jesus, they went up on the roof, removed the tiles, and let their friend down with ropes – no small task.
The first thing that Jesus said to the man was, “Your sins are forgiven.” That probably wasn’t what the man expected to hear, but Jesus knew that it was what he needed to hear. God knows that sin can be even more paralyzing to a person’s spirit than a physical injury can be to the body.
Advent is a good time to come to Jesus in the confessional and hear the words “your sins are forgiven.” It is even better if we can bring our friends. The friends of the paralyzed man went to great efforts to bring him to Jesus, and they were greatly rewarded for their efforts. Not only did they see their friend healed, their deed will be remembered throughout history. They did not consider what other people thought of them. They were not deterred by the crush of the crowd. They were not afraid to remove obstacles.
Shouldn’t we imitate their example? Do we have friends who need to be healed and who cannot come to Jesus by themselves – who need a friend to bring them?

Reflection based on Luke 5:17-26
Dale O’Leary

Loving Father, help me to become a true friend to others through the forgiveness I received through your Son.

Tuesday, December 6

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

Why Santa Makes Sense

Saint Nicholas is truly beloved by children around the world, whether or not they realize jolly old Saint Nick is a saint. Santa Claus is the object of such affection because his generosity is so spectacular. A man who brings presents to every child – who could not love Santa? It makes no sense, really – why would he do such a thing? Why work so hard for someone else’s children?
When Jesus speaks of looking for one lost sheep, it also doesn’t seem to make sense – why care so much about that one sheep? But the story of the shepherd resounds with us because even we can imagine doing the same – searching high and low for that one missing sheep. That law of unfathomable generosity is written in our hearts. We want to love that much – giving all that we have for even the one that goes astray.
Only we are not capable of sustaining that love – we lose heart and give up; we get mad at the sheep for getting lost in the first place, we kick him in anger. We think we are the shepherd and it is our job to find that lost sheep. But we forget that we ourselves are the lost ones, and that Jesus’ mercy is for us, if we will only give him the chance to seek us out.

Reflection based on Matthew 18:12-14
Rebecca Vitz Cherico

Loving Father, you never stop seeking for your children. Open my hard heart to your tender mercy.

Wednesday, December 7

Saint Ambrose, bishop and doctor of the Church

Giving the Rest to His Rest

In today’s Gospel, the Lord is calling us to come to him and he will give us rest! So often we become overtired and then can’t sleep when we lay down! There is so much on our minds, so much to do, and often so little time to do it! The answer for this lies in Jesus’ own words that he is speaking to all of us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Jesus does not beat around the bush. It should come in loud and clear, he wants to give us rest! Too often we think that rest applies only to our physical tiredness, but we can also become emotionally and spiritually weary. Our precious Jesus wants to rest those parts of us too! He wants us to be yoked to him so that he can help us as we wend our way to eternity.
When oxen are yoked, they work together to pull the load. There are those times in all of our lives when we feel that our burden is too heavy and that we can’t go on one more step by ourselves. Today Jesus is telling us that we don’t have to! When we are yoked with him, our burdens are light!

Reflection based on Matthew 11:28-30
Molly Kelly

Loving Father, help me to surrender to your Son’s love when weariness makes me feel defeated.

Thursday, December 8

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

clinging to Freedom with a Face

“Hail, full of grace!” In the history of the world, these words have been addressed to only one person. She is a woman. Mary of Nazareth. The angel Gabriel speaks this greeting to announce the Incarnation. At that precise moment, and with Mary’s divinely ordained consent, the eternal Son of God became man for our salvation. Heaven and earth rejoice.
The Incarnation of the Son of God touches the whole human race. No wonder that the Church encourages us to guard and cherish this great mystery: “The doctrine of faith must be firmly believed which proclaims that Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Mary, and he alone, is the Son and the Word of the Father.”
The message of the angel also tells us about the Mother of Jesus Christ. “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” God saved Mary in a way that remains unique to the Mother of the Redeemer. In view of the foreseen merits of her Son, Mary is preserved from contracting original sin. What Christ offers effectively to each person on earth, Mary receives fully at her conception. That Mary is conceived without sin enhances her freedom. She is able to love God more. Those who follow Jesus of Nazareth also cling to his Mother Mary. They recognize in her Immaculate Conception a source of hope.

Reflection based on Luke 1:26-38
Father Romanus Cessario

Loving Father, you son’s Immaculate Mother is our purity in the flesh. Deepen my devotion to Mary Immaculate.

Friday, December 9

Friday of the Second Week of Advent

Faithful to a Fact

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that only those who do not allow their prejudices to determine what is real can recognize him.
Saint Juan Diego was one of those. He did not expect nor understand what happened to him when he first saw Our Lady. He was faithful to the fact of her presence and obedient to her words. Today we live in a culture where truth has been reduced to a matter of interpretation and opinion, not of facts. No wonder Saint Juan Diego has become politically incorrect. I personally heard an important economist say that if Mexico wants to join the developed nations of the world, it had to get rid of its Catholic faith. This means, of course, to deny the veracity of the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s apparition to Saint Juan Diego. And yet, all those ideological efforts to separate the Mexican people from the Church crash against the fact of a piece of clothing belonging to this Mexican native, Juan Diego’s “tilma,” where the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is miraculously engraved.
“Wisdom,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “is vindicated by her works.” The Christian faith is not based on an ideological agenda imposed by power. The Christian faith is based on a fact, the fact of the Incarnation. Christian life is a life of witnessing to this fact.

Reflection based on Matthew 11:16-19
Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete

Loving Father, empty me of every false idea and focus me on the fact of your Son made flesh.

Saturday, December 10

Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

Closer Than We Thought

“I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased.”
The Gospel tells us that the apostles understood the allusion to Elijah as metaphorical, referring to the greater prophet, John the Baptist, who by this time had been murdered by Herod. We know, however, that at other times in the Gospel they did not grasp what Jesus said to them. The apostles only came to a fuller comprehension of Jesus Christ as divine Messiah after his resurrection.
The stress of recognition in Jesus’ words is worth pondering. Advent offers us a grace to seek awareness of God at a deeper level of faith – not to remain at our current understanding of God’s relations with our soul. The presence of God is always much closer than we acknowledge, and it is often linked to divine request. Perhaps we do not recognize sufficiently these quiet requests from God for love and sacrifice.
John the Baptist is an excellent model to prompt recognition. His words, “he must increase, I must become less,” epitomize a soul giving itself completely to Jesus Christ. Our most important preparation in Advent can be to become humble, lowly, less; in doing so, our souls become docile, accessible to Jesus coming again to us in every opportunity we have to be generous in love.

Reflection based on Matthew 7:9a. 10-13
Father Donald Haggerty

Loving Father, help me to make a perfect gift of myself to you.

Sunday, December 11

Third Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John: 1:6-8, 19-28

____________________________

A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.

And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?” He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.”

So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said:

“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Gospel of the Lord.

December 11th

Third Saturday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday

The Voice of Reason

In the Advent Gospel readings we encounter the enigmatic figure of John the Baptist. There we learn less about who John is than about who he is not. A litany of negatives describes the Baptist: he is not the light, he is not the Christ, he is not Elijah or the Prophet. When John finally identifies himself, he gives not a name, but a verse from Isaiah: “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord.’”

Did John have a self-esteem problem? Far from it! In a striking way, John stands out in the Scriptures as a man who really knows his God given mission. John is the “friend of the bridegroom” who heralds the bridegroom’s coming. He is the “voice” who prepares the world for the Word.

Achieving self-knowledge in our own lives requires embracing similar sort of negatives: I am not in charge of what happens in my life, I am not the master of my situation, I am not the measure of all things. But when we clear out these fantastical (yes, fantastical!) illusions, we are liberating ourselves to be who God wants us to be. We are liberating God to work through us.

Lisa Lickona

Loving Father, my dignity and worth is my relationship with you. Free me from all that deceives me.

Monday, December 12

Our Lady of Guadalupe

God in the Details

When the Aztecs first saw the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe they were struck by its beauty. The blue-green color on Our Lady’s mantle was immediately attractive, since this color would usually fade easily but remains ever bright on this image. The sunburst surrounding the image spoke of its grandeur and mysterious importance. The beautiful and tender face of Our Lady would have been inviting in a warm and personal way.
If the Aztecs got up very close to the image, they would see an extremely small cross on the collar of Our Lady’s garment. This small cross told them that the God that this beautiful Lady worshiped and invited all to know was the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Without noticing this small cross the image would merely be a beautiful curiosity. Instead, the small, easily unnoticed cross changed the lives of millions of Aztecs who were no longer enslaved to fearsome false gods; they had discovered that God is a Father.
Let us pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe that in this season of Advent we may not be enslaved by the gods of consumerism and to our own ideas about the way we think things should be.
Let us ask that the gift and tradition of Advent and Christmas will bring us close enough to see Jesus, whose love and presence continues to free us.

Reflection based on Luke 1:26-38
Father Richard Veras

Loving Father, make me aware of the mercy you offer us through the Son of Mary in every detail and circumstance of my life.

Tuesday, December 13

Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr

What Makes People Memorable?

In the parable of the two sons, Jesus asks the chief priests and elders which of the two sons did the father’s will: he who first refused and then later obeyed, or he who said he would and didn’t? Of course, we don’t want to be like either son; we want always to answer yes and follow through.
December 13 is the feast of the virgin martyr Saint Lucy who is said to have died in Sicily around the year 303. It is believed that she is one of the many Christians who died during the persecution under Diocletian. The details of her life remain shrouded in legend, but there must have been something special about her – perhaps her youth or beauty or shining faith. After her death people began to ask her intercession and she is credited with many miracles. Over the centuries the real facts of her life merged with the stories of the other virgin martyrs and the truth could not be separated from the pious tales. Perhaps all we can really know is that she was a daughter of God, who heard her Father’s command and obeyed without hesitation even at the cost of her life.
In this age when so many young women are tempted by the world, Saint Lucy is a model of chastity and courage. She died rather than surrender her faith or her virginity. We can therefore pray to Saint Lucy for young women that they will hear the Father and obey.

Reflection based on Matthew 21:28-32
Dale O’Leary

Loving Father, to obey you is to love the way you care for me and lead me to true happiness. Deepen my obedience.

Wednesday, December 14

Saint John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

The Physician in the Waiting Room

“Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Even John the Baptist who loved the Lord so much sent two of his disciples to ask the Lord that question. Jesus was not offended but rather he pointed to the many miracles that he had performed and told them to go back and recount them to John.
How many miracles has the Lord performed in your life? For some reason there are those who think that the “Age of Miracles” is over! Jesus no longer walks the earth and therefore he isn’t performing any more miracles.
But, oh, how wrong they are! Babies are being born every day! Sick people are being cured every day! The dead are being brought back to life every day! Only God can create a new human life! A physician delivers a child, but God creates that child! Only God cures our illnesses! A physician can prescribe medicine but God created the physician!
And what about the dead coming back to life? When we confess our sins, our souls are brought back to Life! Our healing God is still healing and curing his people! Take your illnesses to the Divine Physician and ask him to heal you! Don’t delay! His healing awaits you today!

Reflection based on Luke 7:18b-23
Molly Kelly

Loving Father, let me trust in you more and more through the countless miracles you do in my life every day.

Thursday, December 15

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

The Human Drama

Flannery O’Connor entitled one of her stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” In our Gospel reading today we hear that Jesus found not only a good man, but the greatest born of woman, John the Baptist. Jesus interrogates the crowd about his cousin, John, and through his own questioning arrives at the true conclusion.
The drama of this no-nonsense prophet’s life was carried out in the desert, a favorite place to teach the stark realities of life. John did not go to the people, but rather the people came to John. Many, including sinners, were serious truth seekers. They were not seeking the things of this world but listened humbly when John spoke to them, preparing their minds and hearts for the coming of the Messiah
Those who listened, believed, and were baptized with John’s baptism acknowledged the righteousness of God. There were others, the learned and self-righteous, who did not believe and refused John’s baptism. Their drama ended by rejecting the plan of God in their own lives.
The entry of Christ into the world sliced the world and time into two, even as it divided all life in two. Advent is a time of decision. If any man be in Christ he is a new creation (cf.2 Cor 5:17).

Reflection based on Luke 7:24-30
Mother Assumpta Long

Loving Father, guide my decisions so that my every action leads me closer to you.

Friday, December 16

Friday of the Third Week of Advent

How Dark is Darkness?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls John the Baptist, “a burning and shining lamp.” In our electrified age we take light for granted; a flick of the switch and our rooms are filled with light. But there was a time when a single lamp was a luxury. Most of us can’t imagine how dark the world was before electricity. John the Baptist was a single lamp and the people “were content to rejoice in his light.”
Jesus is the light of the world, a light that overcomes all the darkness. Do we appreciate the light which he brought into the world, or do we take it for granted? During this Advent perhaps we can meditate for a moment on how dark the world must have been before the coming of Jesus. To be in the presence of God, the Jews had to go up to the temple in Jerusalem, and even then they were only able to stand outside. Before, the temple priests offered animal sacrifices over and over for the sins of the people.
Today the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass is offered on altars around the world. We have only to join our hearts and our intentions to that offering. Most of us live within an easy drive of a church where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. We could visit it every day.
Perhaps it is too easy. The sanctuary light burning beside the tabernacle reminds us that the light of the world has come to dwell with us. Do we rejoice in that light?

Reflection based on John 5:33-36
Dale O’Leary

Loving Father, bring your light to every dark corner of my life.

Saturday, December 17

Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

This Journey Together

“A book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.”
It is cold and dark. I look at the clock. 4:45 A. M. I hear the familiar jingle of dog tags as she shakes and stretches and then searches for me. Most mornings, she will stand by the door and wait for me to open it. On cold, dark mornings, her paws develop suction cups. She looks at me: You are not going out with me? She wants to go. But she will not go alone. We head toward the woods. I have learned this is a process not to be rushed. We are making this journey together.
We know very little about the family life of Jesus. What we do know is that Jesus comes to share our human journey. We need not go alone. He comes to walk with us in journey. We need not go alone. He comes to walk with us in the dark and in the bright sun. He lovingly asks us to do the same for one another.
In those early morning hours, the deer are deep in the woods, I can see their eyes peer at me through the trees. And while my dog scampers about, I think of the other eyes who have watched me through the years.
A grandmother, an uncle, a dear family friend. I think of those who have made the journey with me. They have shown me Jesus

Reflection based on Matthew 1:1-17
Father Gregory E. S. Malovetz

Loving Father, thank you for the faces in my life – past and present – who reveal Jesus to me.

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