Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
We are almost there! Our Advent longing will soon be fulfilled with the birth of our savior, the coming of the Christ into our world! In this last day of Advent, our readings turn our thoughts to that amazing mystery – the mystery of the perfect union of human and divine that comes to us in the person of Jesus, that small babe born to us on Christmas.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
As with all of Advent, today’s readings challenge us to prepare our hearts for the coming of the savior. The prophet Malachi speaks of a messenger who is sent to prepare the way. The messenger will testify to a covenant in which our loving God is coming. Malachi prophesied to the people and called on them to purify themselves so as to be prepared for the coming of the Lord. This purification and preparation not only prepares hearts for the Lord’s coming, but it also draws families closer to one another in love.
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
In less than three days, we will begin Christmas celebrations. Advent is drawing to a close, and thus the beginning of the liturgical year is near its end, and with Christmas we will begin to immerse ourselves in the deeper waters that flow to us in the Liturgy throughout the rest of the liturgical year. Today’s readings are especially appropriate by way of anticipation of the Solemn Feast we are rapidly approaching.
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Today's Scripture
Today is the last Sunday in the season of Advent. The Christmas Masses celebrated on the evening four days from now will usher in the compact Christmas season. As we approach the end of Advent we would do well to reflect on how well we have celebrated the season, on how well we have prayed and served others in preparation for Christ’s coming at Christmas.
Saturday of the Third Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
As we enter into the final days of preparation for Christmas, we are presented with two types of fear– a holy fear of the Lord and a prideful fear of losing earthly power.
Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
3rd Week Advent Thursday 17 December 2009 An Everlasting Kingdom Today we continue our Advent reading with a passage from Genesis. Here Jacob, also called Israel, is addressing his sons. There is a special honor for Judah described here: the scepter shall never depart from Judah. In other words, through him there will be an everlasting kingdom. The great king David was of the tribe of Judah, and Jesus was known as the Son of David.
Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
It is the season where expectations begin to run high. For many children there are advertisements, store windows and TV commercials peddling the toys they ought to have. For many adults, there is decorating, parties, cleaning, cards and cooking. These activities are in addition to our already busy lives. Of course, our goal is that all of these things happen in a picture perfect way. In this, our own expectations can lead to our possible unraveling.
Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
Today’s readings continue the Advent theme of the coming of Christ, with a particular focus on His final coming at the end of history. The reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew as well as the first portion of the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Zephaniah both tell of future judgment. We could go in many directions with the rich readings presented to us today, but I especially want to focus on the second half of the first reading from Zephaniah, in light of Jesus’ first coming.
Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church
Today's Scripture
Now and Near In this penultimate week of the liturgical season of Advent, we find ourselves with first readings taken from a selection of Old Testament books. These passages will highlight the Christological reading of the Old Testament; in other words, we find the coming of Jesus foretold in the books of the Hebrew Scriptures which became known as our “Old Testament” and which were written centuries before the birth of the infant Jesus.
Third Sunday of Advent
Today's Scripture
We are in the midst of Advent, in fact, we have reached the third Sunday in Advent, known in the West as Gaudete Sunday, which is from the Latin for, “Rejoice!” And indeed, our readings today help train our minds to focus on the joy we celebrate. This is particularly emphasized in the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Zephaniah, the responsorial psalm taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, and the second reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. The cause of our rejoicing is Jesus, His coming and His presence once He has arrived, where our God will be in our midst (Zephaniah 3:17). This occurs in today’s Mass, as at every Mass. Such rejoicing, however, also prepares us for the joy of the Christmas season we are about to celebrate in 12 days, where we remember Jesus first coming in the flesh, where God became present to us in our midst ---as He is at every Eucharist.
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Today's Scripture
In the tradition of Jewish hope for the Messiah, the one who would come and restore God’s reign, there was an expectation that the great prophet Elijah would come back as a forerunner to the Messiah, an indication that the one who came after was indeed God’s servant who will save His people from oppression. In the first reading, we see a recitation of this expectation of Elijah’s return, “You were destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the Lord, To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.” And in the gospel, Jesus alludes to Elijah’s suffering such that it was clear to the disciples that he was identifying John the Baptist with Elijah. The Baptist is indeed the forerunner to Jesus, the Messiah. It is not as clear as was expected.
Friday of the Second Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
A story is told about one of my favorite saints, Teresa of Avila. In order to comprehend the story, you need to know that she is the founder of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, a very strict order in which people do a lot of fasting and other ascetic acts. The word “discalced” means “unshod,” and these Carmelites walk around barefoot or in sandals, again as an ascetic practice, and also as a witness to the fact that Jesus himself was poor and did not have shoes in the way that we do. Teresa advocated lots of time for prayer and contemplation, a very difficult thing to do. So, imagine the surprise of her nuns when they encountered her in the kitchen one day eating partridge, and clearly enjoying it. The nuns exclaimed that she wasn’t fasting, but Teresa said, “When I fast, I fast, and when I partridge, I partridge.”
Thursday of the Second Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
“The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and of great kindness” (Ps. 145:8). This is our response for today’s psalm, and it encapsulates one of the themes of Advent, namely God’s merciful gift in his Son Jesus, who will come to us as an infant at Christmas and who will come again at the end to claim all who belong to his kingdom.
Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
Advent may be the season of preparation for the Feast of the Nativity, yet it often seems like the time to “get stuff done” for Christmas. Of course, these four weeks include both. Yet, it is so tempting to focus on getting our Christmas checklist completed that our exhaustion can obscure the spiritual growth of an Advent season well celebrated. Today’s readings address our weariness and speak of the strengthening that is offered to those who place their hope in the Lord.
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today's Scripture
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a much misunderstood dogma. Many assume, mistakenly, that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception refers to Jesus’ birth. Perhaps this is partly because of the Gospel reading from St. Luke which foretells Jesus’ birth. In fact, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s own conception. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception teaches that Mary was conceived free from original sin, and the close corollary is that she herself never actively sinned. This dogma was solemnly defined in 1854, but had been an important belief in Christianity much earlier. Even the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther adhered to the Immaculate Conception, and much earlier, St. Augustine, who was a central figure in the Church’s development of the understanding of original sin, upheld Mary as an exception to original sin.
Monday of the Second Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
In this second week of Advent, we continue longing for Christ’s coming, recalling his birth in Bethlehem 2000 years ago as well as anticipating his coming at the end of time. In this time of darkness, we long for light. In this time of cold, we long for warmth. This is a joyful anticipation because we are full of hope and confidence that God does indeed come to us. Today’s first reading from Isaiah is also one of longing and anticipation. We hear what will happen when God comes to us, and it is amazing!
Second Sunday of Advent
Today's Scripture
On this second Sunday of Advent we are reminded of St. John the Baptist’s prophetic role to prepare the way of the Lord (Luke 3:4). The image of the Lord’s coming is found, at some level, in all of today’s readings. In the first reading from Baruch we find God’s exaltation of Israel which had been brought low. The Lord’s coming (implied here) will be restorative (it will bring the people back). We find this fulfilled, at one level, with the ministry of Jesus, and the calling of the twelve apostles representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Again, this imagery, clearly tied to the first reading, is found again in the responsorial Psalm 126, with the expectant hope of return from exile. More explicitly, St. Paul talks of the coming “day of Christ” (Philippians 1:6 and 10).
Saturday of the First Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
We usually think of Christmas, not Advent, as the time of giving- but, really, all times are times of giving. Although we may not always realize it, we receive everything that we have as a gift from God. As the Creed insists, we believe in the God who is “creator of heaven and earth, of all that is- seen and unseen.” If we allow ourselves to seriously contemplate our own Faith, we find that we believe that everything stems from God’s giving. If this is true, then all of our experiences find their origin in God, who continuously sustains all things. Everything that we are and everything that we have- all of our lives have their source in the LORD God Almighty, who is the beginning and the end of everything that was, and is, and will be.
Friday of the First Week of Advent
Today's Scripture
In today’s gospel (Matthew 9:27-31) Jesus encounters two blind men and asks them, “Do you believe I can do this?” Do you believe I can heal you? Jesus’ words are, of course, meant to be closely linked to today’s Old Testament text (Isaiah 29:17-24) about how the blind shall see and tyrants will no longer rule.
Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, priest
Today's Scripture
In this first week of Advent, we continue the book of the prophet Isaiah and also continue with readings involving the Kingdom of Heaven, which was a prominent theme in the last few weeks of our liturgical year. Today’s selection from Isaiah speaks of triumph for those who have trusted in the Lord. Those nations who have lived God’s will find welcome in the strong and protected city. These people have lived the truth of God as their rock and hence find security in this rock. Meanwhile, other lofty cities are humbled as they fall to the ground to be trampled by the needy and the poor. We can understand these lofty cities as concerned more with their own success than in fidelity to God and hence charity to the lowest of their society.