Thoughts on anxiety

 

God is Faithful

The situation in our world is frightening, and many people experience deep anxieties. More than ever we will be tested in our faith. I hope and pray that the Lord will deepen our faith during these weeks of Advent and will fill us with peace and joy, which belong to his kingdom. Hope is not optimism and I pray that we all will be able to live hopefully in the midst of our apocalyptic time. We have a promise and God is faithful to his promise even when we are doubtful and fearful. As Paul says: “Our hope is not deceptive because the Holy Spirit has already been poured into us” (Romans 5:5). Henri Nouwen

Third Sunday in Advent

 

Today, Gaudete Sunday, is a day for rejoicing. Jesus’ Coming at Christmas is only two weeks away!

 

Imagine the Blessed Mother’s anticipation that she felt deep in her heart as she was expecting the Lord. As the celebration of Christmas draws near, we can sit with the Blessed Virgin, awaiting, with her, for the Lord’s coming at Christmas.

 

After the miraculous conception by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, Mary sang her Magnificat with the Child Jesus present in her womb. Let us, with her, ponder the Incarnation and sing our own Magnificat to the unborn Jesus for the marvelous things He has done for us, too!

 

Today, we can rejoice that the Lord came to earth after many centuries of prophecies. We can rejoice that He lived among us for 33 years, teaching us about the Kingdom of God. We can rejoice that He died on the Cross and rose again on the third day, opening the doors of Heaven for each one of us. And we can rejoice because He continually gives us His Body and Blood in order to remain with us all days until the end of the world (see Matthew 28:20).

 

Today, we can thank Jesus for each one of these gifts and, along with Mary, “ponder them in our hearts.”

Thoughts on hope

 

Always Reason to Hope

I am increasingly impressed by the Christian possibility of celebrating not only moments of joy but also moments of pain, thus affirming God’s real presence in the thick of our lives. A true Christian always affirms life, because God is the God of life, a life stronger than death and destruction. In him we find no reason to despair. There is always reason to hope, even when our eyes are filled with tears. Henri Nouwen

Second Sunday in Advent

 

Prayer requires that we stand in God's presence with open hands, naked and vulnerable, proclaiming to ourselves and to others that without God we can do nothing. This is difficult in a climate where the predominant counsel is "Do your best and God will do the rest." When life is divided into "our best" and "God's rest," we have turned prayer into a last resort to be used only when all our resources are depleted. Then even the Lord has become the victim of our impatience. Discipleship does not mean to use God when we can no longer function ourselves. On the contrary, it means to recognize that we can do nothing at all, but that God can do everything through us. As disciples, we find not some but all of our strength, hope, courage, and confidence in God. Therefore, prayer must be our first concern.



Dear God, teach me to be open to you in prayer.

Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the Kingdom of God

 The Kingdom of God is at Hand

In the gospel reading for last week, the first week of Advent, Jesus urges us to be alert, on guard, be fully ready for his coming.  This week the Sunday readings highlight our reasons for doing this. It begins with the ministry of John the Baptist and follows with the beginnings of Jesus' ministry with both proclaiming "that the “kingdom of God is at hand."

We know that throughout the public life of Jesus he will frequently speak about the kingdom of God. It is not an exaggeration to say that to a great extent the Gospels concern this kingdom, how one becomes a part of it, what are its requirements, and so on. In fact, Jesus' whole way of life can be summed up as the heart and soul of the kingdom. Why do all four gospels begin with Jesus and/or John the Baptist proclaiming that the kingdom of God, the reign of God is at hand, is now present?   

Religious Jews never forget that they are a people who had become a nation, one peculiarly dear to God. This had come about not because of what they had done but because of what God had done for them, how God had acted in their midst. They had these beliefs: that as a people they would one day be re-established as a nation, as a kingdom, as in the time of King David and Solomon. In this kingdom, they would become the channel of God's life and salvation for all peoples (a light to the gentiles). This is their destiny as God's chosen people. 

How will this happen? This will literally be God's endeavor, God's project. Some believe that the Lord would send a great leader like David, and of David's lineage, a messiah who will bring about the re-establishment of this kingdom.

And as all of this begins to take place it is summarized in the saying: the kingdom (or reign) of God is at hand, and all of God's past dealings with his creation are coming to climax and fruition. God's reign of peace and justice for all people is now being re-established. This is the final intervention of God into our history, God’s culminating endeavor to bring peace and justice to our world. At the beginning of his public life, Jesus is proclaiming the kingdom is beginning now, and is at hand in his ministry.

Advent is a time for us to recall and appreciate how Jesus comes to his people and how he has come and is coming to you and me. Let us pray for the faith and hope to look forward to his final coming when his kingdom will be fully established and there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

 

Jim Blumeyer, S.J.

First Sunday in Advent

 

In our personal lives, waiting is not a very popular pastime. Waiting is not something we anticipate or experience with great joy and gladness! In fact, most of us consider waiting a waste of time. Perhaps this is because the culture in which we live is basically saying, "Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don't just sit there and wait!" So, for us and many people, waiting is a dry desert between where we are and where we want to be. We do not enjoy such a place. We want to move out of it and do something worthwhile.

Dear Lord, help me be patient as I await your arrival.

Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the new liturgical year

 This Sunday we begin again a new liturgical year. And each new liturgical year starts with the season of Advent, which is joyfully waiting for the advent, the coming, of our Lord, remembering both his birth and his final triumph at his Second Coming at the end of time. There are two temptations during this season. The first is consumerism. Seeing this as a time of shopping and gifts and parties first, and only distantly about preparing to celebrate Christ’s incarnation. We ought to strive to be faithful witnesses in our families and in the marketplace that the most important thing about this time of year is not material things we accumulate but the gift of God to humanity in Christ.

But a second temptation is to overly domesticate the Advent and Christmas seasons, to make them into cozy and sentimental celebrations of welcoming a guest, Jesus, into our homes. The true meaning of Advent is much more dynamic and challenging than that. Stop for a moment and ask: If Jesus were to walk into my home this very day, what would he find? Would he find us, his servants, dutifully and joyfully giving themselves to faith and love? Or would he find a lack of fervor and possibly turmoil and strife?

So Jesus is saying to us today that we must be alert and awake for his coming. This is because Jesus is no mere cozy guest but rather the new King of Kings, the one to whom all allegiance is finally owed. Of course, this will mean opposition from currently ruling kings. Those other individuals, economic systems, political ideologies, personal pleasures, will often rebel against this new king, which then leads to the cross. We are called in Advent to look within ourselves and root out any opposition to our Lord that may have crept into our lives.

In the Collect prayer for this Sunday, we ask “Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming.” So let us run to Christ this Advent with the gifts that truly last: faith, hope, and charity.

Fr. Frank Reale, S.J.