God's Style Waiting in Joy, Week Three of Advent

          Happy third Sunday in Advent! The present theme in life (mine and in others), is a lack of patience, especially around this time of finals, and as Christmas break approaches. While some are struggling with the “what is next stage”, or “I want it now, when is it my turn / my time, stage”, Advent teaches us to rejoice and be happy! These past couple of months I have been reflecting on where my own joy has gone. If I am to be honest with you and myself, I think it has gotten lost in the “I want it now stage”. To be fair I am still a human, and yes I still have some life lessons to learn. 

          However, Advent teaches us to be patient, to be patient with others and ourselves. God has amazing plans for us! His plans are so amazing that He was willing to send down His only Begotten Son as a human being, in the most humble of forms, as a baby to be born in a tiny manger in a tiny town. God also has amazing style: in Matthew 2:2 it is written, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” God makes the brightest star shine for the birth of Jesus. This star is so bright that it is seen for miles away and leads the Magi to Him.

 

The same God that has amazing style has amazing plans for us and when we least expect it will show us. This brings us back to the start .We must be patient and wait in joy for His plans. We must not be fooled by the cheep imitations that seem to be great, but in reality they are not the same, awesome, or authentic plans that God has.  In our anxiousness we must not lose hope, but we must stay strong and trust that “greater things are yet to come and greater things are still being done.” 

I leave you with the second reading from today’s Mass, 1 Thessalonians 5:16 -24: “Brothers and sisters: Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.” When we are allow Christ to take our lack of patience and anxieties in prayer then we become free. In this freedom this is where our peace and our joy rests, this is where our hope comes from.  My prayer for you this Advent is for peace and joy to overflow in your heart. Let us not get caught up in the cheap imitations, but let us be patient in the real presence and presents of Jesus. As we light the pink candle let us wait in joy.

Wait in Hope, Week Two of Advent

Happy second week of Advent! The first reading from Isaiah 40:1-5, 9 -11, gives us an understanding of hope from the perspective of the Hebrew people. Isaiah was writing about the first coming of the Messiah, and an ending to their suffering which was caused by the sins of the previous Hebrews. We can see Isaiah proclaiming hope to the Hebrews, saying, “In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” …“Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.”  We can see the encouragement in hope as Isaiah tells them to wait. We also see Isaiah challenging them to prepare their hearts for the Messiah. 

The Gospel, Mark 1:1- 8, speaks to us in hope as we read about John the Baptist fulfilling Isaiah’s prophesy.  John is telling the people to repent and be Baptized in preparation of Jesus. By this he is telling them to wait in hope and not in shame of their sins. In the same way we now ask to wait in hope for Christmas, the first coming of Christ, as well as for the return of Christ.  Mark tells us from our Baptism we are made clean of our previous sins before we were Baptized. In addition, we need to repent for our current sins, and prepare our hearts for Jesus by getting to the Sacrament of Confession: this is how we can wait in hope instead of despairing in our sins.

 From the readings today we are asked to trust in the Lord and wait in hope. For it is in  hope we are able to see that our God is a god who keeps His promise, a God who keeps His word and does so by fulfilling the readings. Jesus is that fulfillment; Jesus does for us what we could not have done for ourselves. He allows us to enter into Heaven as co-heirs from our Baptism. He prepared the way for us to get into Heaven after John the Baptist prepared the way for the Lord.  Let us then wait in hope as we light the second purple candle, for it is in hope that we find encouragement, and in hope that we are saved.