Claire Smith

First Sunday of Advent

Scripture:

Jeremiah 33:14-16
1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Reflection:

ADVENT IS HERE!!!!

Someone asked me recently to share my thoughts or images regarding the season of Advent.  Our liturgical planning group at our parish has been doing just that over the past few months. We prayed with the scriptures of advent, shared our thoughts and came up with the theme, Preparing for JOY!  I love the Advent readings, they are so full of what I feel advent is all about, joy, hope, promise, prophecy and challenge!  Hopefully this will be a time of preparation for the coming of the messiah into the world with the birth of Jesus, his continued presence in each of us, and the second coming of the risen Christ in glory.

The prophet Jeremiah in our first reading today reminds us of how God made good on his covenant promise to Israel in these words:

“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.”

This was good news for Judah and Jerusalem and it is good news for us today!

Our family recently welcomed a new little one, Annabelle Grace, into our lives!  Her birth after nine long months gives her parents and all our family another reason to celebrate God’s love and promise in a world that sometimes seems to have forgotten the joy and hope that God promises to all of us.  She is a daily presence of what Advent is all about!  She is joy, hope, promise and challenge all rolled into one, even when she is exercising her role as prophetess as she cries out in the day and night reminding us she is God’s promise to us fulfilled!

My hope and prayer for all of us this advent season is to spend more time in listening to the prophets and prophetess’ past and present and take to heart their message of joy, hope, peace and love. May we spread their message by the way we live and love, not only those we cherish but also those who challenge us.

Have a Blessed Advent!

Theresa Secord recently retired as a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Daniel 7:15-27
Luke 21:34-36

Reflection:

How many times do we get caught up in the spirit of this world? Temptations are thrown to us left and right, and our best attempts at living a Godly life can sometimes seem futile, at best. How much of our time do we waste watching television, having one drink too many (thankfully I have a very low tolerance to alcohol…), or spend our time with things that will not enlighten us in our faith journey? Jesus said, “be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape imminent tribulations”. I believe those tribulations are those things that pull us away from Him, and that pulls us away from our eternity with Christ.

Imagine yourself constantly being next to Jesus. Everything you did, he would be there. Everywhere you went, he would be beside you. Wherever you drove, he would be in the front seat. Would you do things differently? Would you, possibly, not go to some of the places that bring you pleasure if you knew Jesus was there? Well, guess what – he certainly is! The good you do on earth; you do for the Father in Heaven. If we know he is always present, we certainly would do things differently! 

Pull yourself into a schedule of doing good on this earth. I believe that God wants us to enjoy this life and all the gifts that he has given us with it. Make the most of those gifts and enjoy them, but make sure you use them for good, especially for the good of others! When our day comes to stand before the Son of Man, I want all of us to be there! God bless you!

Patty Masson supports the Passionists from Spring, Texas. 

Scripture:

Daniel 7:2-14
Luke 21:29-33

Reflection:

We don’t waste much time moving from Thanksgiving to Black Friday. Stores open their doors late on Thursday before the remnants of the feast are put away, dishes cleaned, and guests out the door. It seems we need to rush past the moment of gratitude for what we have been given to focus on accumulating more.

Thanksgiving has for me always been a comforting celebration. It does not have the complications of Christmas. It focuses on gathering around a table of plenty. Very Eucharistic, wouldn’t you say? We gather in twos, threes, tens or twenties knowing we are imperfect, yet we gather, nonetheless. At our best we reflect on what little we have done to deserve such graciousness, yet here it is before us. Blessed indeed.

First, though, we need to see what is before us. Gratitude wells up in us only when we recognize the gift. It might be the birth of child or grandchild. It might be that finally we can come together safely and vaccinated to share space and a meal. It might be one of us has returned to health or maybe we acknowledge and celebrate a life well lived.

Thanksgiving should be a daily celebration. The extravagant feast is not repeated each day, but a moment to notice what is given to us each day can be repeated every day. But like today’s Black Friday, as long as we are focused on what we don’t have, we will find it hard to relish all that we already have. What is it that? Simply this: “You are my beloved. In you, I am well pleased.”

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and was the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Thanksgiving Day (USA)

Scripture:

Sirach 50:22-24,
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Luke 17:11-19

Reflection:

We hear today the first verses of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Paul’s letter was written at a time when, as Professor Douglas Campbell, a Pauline scholar at Duke Divinity School, puts it, “the church at Corinth was a mess.” In fact, the situation in Corinth was similar in many ways to what we are experiencing in our own country and communities today: partisanship; leadership which encouraged factions and division in the community; a lack of concern on the part of the wealthy members of the community with the well-being of the poor and vulnerable members that had penetrated into the sacred meal of the Lord’s Supper itself—to name a few.

I wonder what it must have been like for Paul as he pondered how to respond to the community at Corinth in light of these serious issues that threatened his “beloved children.” As a parent, I know anger and frustration arise easily in the face of wayward children!  Yet Paul begins his letter not with anger or frustration but with thanksgiving:

I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus.

He goes on later in the letter to gift us with some of the most beautiful reflections and imagery of Christianity, including the description of the church as the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12) and the affirmation “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). But for now, on this Thanksgiving Day 2021, I invite us all to stay with the first verses of Paul’s letter and imagine what it might be like if we entered into the conflicts of today’s world–and in our own lives–giving thanks to God for those we see as opposing us and our values.  Who knows?  We, like Paul in the course of his letter, may move inevitably from gratitude to the “greatest of these,” love.

Lissa Romell is the Administrator at St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois.

Scripture:

Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28
Luke 21:12-19

Reflection:

Wonderful Providence

Yet not a hair of your head will perish.
By your endurance you will gain your lives. -Luke 21:18

God’s Providence means that God’s loving care surrounds us at every moment of our lives.   It is told that it was a custom in one of the tribes of Native Americans that a young man had to go through a testing to prove his manhood.   In the dead of night, he was led by his father into the depths of the forest blindfolded.  The young man was tied still blindfolded to a tree.  He was left alone all the night vulnerable to animal attracts.   The boy thought he was all alone and was expected to show bravery.   Unknown to him his father was close by to protect him if danger approached. 

I believe this gives us a metaphor of the protective presence of God in our scary moments.   We might feel that “God hides His Face” in our troubles.  The face was used as an image of God’s presence. “Here is looking at you!”  Often in the Psalms the author prays: “Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake (Hebrew:ʿāzab to abandon)  me, God my Savior.” Ps 27:9 Praise to His mercy He does not abandon us in our troubles!

We must trust in this caring presence of God.  He only seems to abandon us, to hide His face. He is close and only seems to be away.  He is only encouraging us to trust in His deep love for us!  In our deepest anxious moments, He gives us the biggest opportunity to make our greatest act of loving confidence.   Like the young man tied and blind in the story we grow into a beautiful reckless bravery of trust.   Love cannot really grow without challenging scary problems. “By your endurance you will gain your lives.”

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Daniel 2:31-45
Luke 21:5-11

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading for today, after Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple, people ask Him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” And Jesus talks about wars and insurrections, earthquakes and famines and plagues, “and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” And the reading ends there.

With divisions and unrest and seemingly increasing natural disasters amid concerns about climate change, it is natural to wonder whether these are the times Jesus is speaking of. In fact, Jesus says, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.”

For me, our first reading from Daniel, and the beginning of our Gospel reading give us some perspective about thinking about the end times. In our reading from Daniel, the prophet interprets a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians. The king’s dream is actually a prophecy of the end of earthly empires and the coming of the Messianic kingdom. As I mentioned before, the beginning of our Gospel reading has Jesus predicting the destruction of the Temple. Both these passages speak to the transitory nature of earthly things, even buildings of worship. We believers put our faith, not in a what, but in a who, the One who has loved us into existence, and whose love for us never ends.

And so, even though Jesus speaks of wars and insurrections and nation rising up against nation, we are called to continue to work for justice and peace. Why bother? Because the One who has loved us has called us to love God and love each other in return. And in love, we need not fear.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama. 

The Feast of Christ the King

Scripture:

Daniel 7:13-14
Revelation 1:5-8
John 18:33b-37

Reflection:

In 1925 secularism had permeated significant parts of the world. Pope Pius XI created the Feast of Christ the King as an antidote to secularism. Secularism, at that time was considered to be a way of life thinking or living as if God does not exist. The feast is intended to cause us to evaluate what role does Christ have in our lives. Is Christ the center of our lives in all that we say and do? Christ the King should be central over individuals, families, society, governments and nations. (https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2021-11-21)

This is the last Sunday of the Church year which means we focus on our eternal life to come. It also means that next Sunday is already the First Sunday of Advent. This day is referred to in the Church as the Solemnity of Jesus Christ King of the Universe!

When we say Jesus is king what does that mean for you and me? Does that mean we have a personal relationship with Jesus? Do we turn to him for guidance and direction in our lives? How much time daily to we spend in developing a daily prayer life and a  heart-to-heart conversation with Jesus. Is Jesus the focus and center of our life

If Jesus is King where is his kingdom? In the gospel of Luke, we find the answer. “The Kingdom of God is within you”. (Luke 17:21) A common popular interpretation is that God is within you (or among you). The kingdom is essentially inward as you develop your  relationship with Jesus allowing him to change your life, enabling you to make ethical decisions.  The kingdom is within you in’ the person of Jesus. To what degree have you developed your relationship with Jesus? To what extent have you allowed Jesus to guide and direct you and your life? This is what it means for Jesus and his Kingdom to be within you. Lord may your kingdom come and thy will be done with in me. (Got Questions: https://www.gotquestions.org/kingdom-of-God-within-you.html)

Carl Middleton is a theologian/ethicist and a member of the Passionist Family.