Tuesday of the First Week of Advent
December 1, 2020
Daily reading from the USCCB: Luke 10:21-24
The occasion for Jesus’ rejoicing in today’s Gospel was listening to his disciples who had just returned from their first missionary journey. It was their first attempt at preaching and healing and they were overwhelmed at all that God had done with them and through them. Remember, these were simple men–fishermen, laborers–totally untrained at doing this. Who could have imagined such a positive experience? It is easy to picture Jesus smiling with them as they try to put into words what they had seen and done.
We all relish memories of wonderful times in our lives. Some of the most memorable ones have been our own religious experiences. We can remember our First Communion as children–eager and overwhelmed at receiving the sacred host. What about the moment you made a formal commitment to your spouse? Or the birth of your first child, when you realized that this new life existed because of you and your spouse?
There may have been difficult times in your life as well: a failure, or a struggle with a sense of unworthiness before God. But hopefully what followed was forgiveness, and a returning to a sense of wholeness, realizing God never stops loving us.
