Fr. Jim Sabak, OFM, invites us into the hope of the Advent season and helps us to meditate upon and contemplate this past Sunday’s readings as we carry the Word with us into our weeks. In the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, may we prepare a place within ourselves for God to dwell.
From Fr. Jim: “We are told to stand tall, to hold our heads high because our redemption is at hand and we need to welcome it. A very different understanding, again, of endings than our world can ever understand. And yet this is our difference as believers in the world. A God who promises, again, that what happens at the end will be for glory and fulfillment and not for destruction. A God who promises us a future, a future that cannot be taken away, a future that cannot be discredited, a future that cannot be forfeited, because the future lies with God, always with God, and the progress of humanity is to move so that God is all in all and always a part of who and what we are called to be as human beings of this good earth.”
First Reading (Jeremiah 33:14-16) for the First Sunday of Advent: “The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: ‘The LORD our justice.'”
Second Reading (1 Thessalonians 3:12—4:2) for the First Sunday of Advent: Brothers and sisters: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen. Finally, brothers and sisters, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God and as you are conducting yourselves you do so even more.For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”
Gospel Reading (Luke 21:25-28, 34-36) for the First Sunday of Advent: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”
