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<< Thursday, November 8, 2012 >>

Philippians 3:3-8
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Psalm 105:2-7

Luke 15:1-10

GOD'S FAVORITE PRESENT

"There will likewise be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner." —Luke 15:7

God the Father has loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us. We are loved infinitely, perfectly, and eternally.

In response to God's love, we love (1 Jn 4:19). As human beings, we try to express our love in words, actions, and gifts. Yet what can we do for the Lord that would make Him very happy? What is a gift that would delight the almighty God?

Jesus answers this question for us in today's Gospel reading: "I tell you, there will likewise be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent" (Lk 15:7). The Lord is very pleased by our righteousness but even more happy about our repentance. When we go to Confession, we are escalating the joy in heaven. When we accept God's call to be ministers of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18), calling others to repentance and Confession, we are thrilling the Holy Trinity and the hosts of heaven. Even if we ourselves don't feel so excited about repentance, all that counts is that the One receiving the gift likes it.

Therefore, give God the gift of repentance. "Blessed are we... for what pleases God is known to us!" (Bar 4:4)

Prayer: Father, may I be preoccupied with showing my love for You.

Promise: "I have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ." —Phil 3:8

Praise: When Thomas decided to forgive those who had hurt him, his blood pressure went down.

Every Child Born Is a Sign

Hope is indelibly engraved in the human heart because God our Father is life, and for eternal life and beatitude we are made.

Every child born is a sign of trust in God and man and a confirmation, at least implicit, of the hope in a future open to God’s eternity that is nourished by men and women. God has responded to this human hope, concealing Himself in time as a tiny human being.

Saint Augustine wrote: “We might have thought that your Word was far distant from union with man, if this Word had not become flesh and dwelt among us” (Conf. X, 43, 69, cited in Spe Salvi, n. 29).

Thus, let us allow ourselves to be guided by the One who in her heart and in her womb bore the Incarnate Word.

O Mary, Virgin of expectation and Mother of hope, revive the spirit of Advent in your entire Church, so that all humanity may start out anew on the journey towards Bethlehem, from which it came, and that the Sun that dawns upon us from on high will come once again to visit us (cf. Lk 1: 78), Christ our God. Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI
From his homily for the first vespers
of the first Sunday of Advent,
December 1, 2007 - St. Peter’s Basilica

One Bread, One Body

GOD'S FAVORITE PRESENT