Advent Daily Reflections Header

 

 




First Sunday of Advent

Today's Lectionary Readings
[link removed]

 

So, Advent is with us again.  Not nearly enough days - even
with the longest possible calendaring of the season this year -
to do all that I hope and expect for Advent.  What great mercy
that none of this is about me (or you), in the small personal
sense.  Please consider this permission to let yourself off the
hook with to-do lists and to pray your way through Advent. 

Between Isaiah's startling prophecy ("they shall beat
their swords into plowshares"), Paul's exhortation to the
community in Rome ("it is the hour now for you to awake from
sleep"), and Jesus' challenging parable via Matthew
("So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not
expect, the Son of Man will come"), we have rich nourishment for
our Advent preparation.  But all three excerpts say that we do
not have the luxury of time.  The call is urgent. 
God's love for us strains against the bounds of space and time
to enter into human history.  As if God is saying: "Do I
have your attention now?"

In my part of the world, after an unseasonably long and warm fall,
winter arrived three weeks ago with snow and relentless cold. 
The homeless encampments in our area have become a focus for desperate
solutions to the overlapping crises of housing, mental health and
substance use.  The campers are a visible sign of our many
failures to care for our sisters and brothers.  Our resources are
small in the face of their human needs.  How can we celebrate
God-with-us when so many neighbors struggle in such difficult
circumstances?

By virtue of the work we do, we know better than most the harsh
realities of those we serve.  We are awake to the challenges and
sufferings of God's people.  Let me humbly offer that our
Advent work is to bring this news to our communities.  It is our
vocation to share these troubling signs of the times with our parishes
and supporters, to unsettle them, to wake them from their sleep and
call them to preparation.  The call is urgent.  It is the
hour to awake from our sleep and to share that call with God's
people. 

As you walk through these Advent weeks, do so in the sure knowledge of
God's mercy for our hesitant and stumbling steps.  Come,
Lord Jesus.

 

Scott Cooper is Vice President of Mission for Catholic Charities
Eastern Washington, where he sings in the choir at Sacred Heart
Parish. 




View this message in your browser. 
[link removed]

Forward this message.
Update your email preferences.
[link removed]
[link removed]