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An Advent reflection on the names “Jesus” and “Emmanuel”

06 Saturday Dec 2025

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In the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel an angel of the Lord comes to Joseph in a dream after Joseph had decided to “dismiss” Mary quietly.  The angel has a mission, to convince this good and righteous man to take Mary, pregnant with child, as his wife because the child is conceived of the Holy Spirit.  The angel instructs Joseph to name the child Jesus, a name which means, “God saves”.  The child will save his people from their sins.  The angel then quotes the prophet Isaiah as witness, “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel”, which means, “God is with us.” 

The angel succeeds in his mission.

The names carry depth and weight, a significance that both answers the yearning of Joseph’s heart (the honest heart of a good and righteous man) and gives courage to do the right thing. 

The name “Jesus” means, “God saves” and specifically he saves, “people from their sins”.  The messiah is long expected and yearned for and many people in Israel were looking for his coming but most thought in earthly terms – the messiah would be an earthly king ruling by might and power.  The messiah would defeat all of Israel’s enemies and would establish the kingdom in peace and security.  But God is about something so much more than all of humanity could imagine.  God’s Anointed One would not merely be an earthly king but, rather the eternal king, priest and prophet who would overcome the great wound of sin itself, that which fundamentally separates us from God.  Jesus will save the people from their sins and will heal the great separation. 

Joseph and Mary, two faith-filled Jews, were the first to hear the great promise of the gospel.  How it must have called forth wonder and inflamed their hearts with joy! 

How does God save?  “Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”  This is the incarnation; God saves by being with us.  As we are lost, as we are separated from God, God comes to us.  God enters into the darkness caused by our sin.  Jesus is born that we would live.  God saves us by being with us.

Here is an invitation to prayer in preparation for the celebration of Christmas and in preparation for our Lord’s return in glory.  Reflect on the name “Jesus”.  What are the sins I cling to?  What are the sins I need to be saved from?  There are no pedestals here.  How do I need Jesus as Lord and Savior?  Reflect on the name “Emmanuel”.  How is God with me, right now, in the season of life I find myself in.  Can I recognize and find comfort and encouragement in God’s abiding presence?  Can I welcome God into where I am now and indeed trust that God wants relationship with me? 

A final thought to this exercise of the holding together of the names in which we realize that God saves us by being with us.  From the angel’s proclamation to Joseph in the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel, we look to the end of the Book of Revelation.  By doing this we find that the image of the heavenly Jerusalem fulfills the proclamation of the angel.  In Revelations 21:1-4 we read,

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals.  He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

God himself will be with them…  Death will be no more…

“Jesus” – God saves.  “Emmanuel” – God is with us. 

God saves us by being with us. 

Come, Lord Jesus! 

The King who sings the new song – The Feast of Christ the King

23 Sunday Nov 2025

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In his writings, St. Augustine never used the title, “Christ the King” (today’s feast was not established until 1925) but Augustine often wrote of the kingship of Christ and the Kingdom of God. 

In his sermon of Psalm 32, St. Augustine reflects on what it means to sing to God a new song.  “Rid yourself of what is old and worn out, for you know a new song.  A new man, a new covenant – a new song.  This new song does not belong to the old man.  Only the new man learns it: the man restored from his fallen condition through the grace of God, and now sharing in the new covenant, that is, the kingdom of heaven.  To it all our love now aspires and sings a new song.  Let us sing a new song not with our lips but with our lives.” 

To be a Christian is to be freed from the old and worn-out ways of sin and know the newness of life found in Christ.  To be a Christian is to sing a new song – the new song of our life in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus knew this song.  Jesus lived this song.  Jesus is the new man – man as God intended – obedient to the Father and in full relationship with the Father, the man never broken and never isolated by sin.

Sin always tries to disrupt our song with God.  Sin always tries to introduce disharmony and discord.  What we hear in today’s gospel is an echo of the disharmony evil tried to introduce at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Luke’s gospel.  The rulers sneer and say, “…let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.”  The soldiers jeer and say, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.”  At the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, after fasting in the desert, the Devil comes to Jesus saying, “If you are the Son of God…”

Sin and the devil do not want us to ever sing the new song and it will do whatever it can to introduce disharmony and discord into this song.  Disharmony that seeks to make us doubt God’s love and discord that seeks to make us doubt our and everyone’s dignity as a child of God. 

Jesus never allowed this disharmony and discord to enter his song, even to the cross.  Because he sang this new song, now we – in him – can also sing it.  The one thief who simply asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom was caught up into this new song and how beautiful his own song must have been and continues to be as he abides with Jesus in Paradise. 

Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King – the King who sings the new song and who invites us into the song.  How do we best sing this new song and give honor to the king?  By our lives – by continually welcoming God and his mercy, by serving as Jesus served, by seeking to be truthful and humble just as Jesus was.  To follow Jesus is to learn this new song and to sing it in the uniqueness of our own life.

The Father, “delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son…”  The Father has brought us into the true harmony of the song of his Son, now we also sing this song of Christ our King. 

All Souls and the Four Final Things

01 Saturday Nov 2025

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Once, when I was pastor at St. Mary’s Church in Athens, TN, I had a graveside service at a local cemetery. It was a nice, clear day and a beautiful setting with trees and mountains in the backdrop. I finished the church’s rite and then the funeral director began to say some words. One thing this funeral home offered families (at a price) was a little ceremony where a group of homing pigeons was released. The pigeons (representing the already deceased members of the departed’s family) were trained to remain circling until a final pigeon was released (representing the newly deceased). The final pigeon was trained to join the others and all together would fly off into the sky. With the flock of pigeons circling, the funeral director said some words of comfort and then released the final pigeon. We all watched as the pigeon flew into the sky, saw the circling flock and bee-lined it in the opposite direction! Behind me, I heard someone say, “Well, he never did really care much for his family!”

In our Catholic tradition there is the concept of the four final things – death, judgement, heaven and hell. As the story reminds us and as the readings also remind us, we will all die one day. This is a truth and how we face death matters. We can pretend it will never happen (and many choose this route) or we can acknowledge death, not in our own strength but rather by trusting in God. “The souls of the just are in the hand of God,” proclaims the Book of Wisdom. The “hope of immortality” has been given and this is what we hold on to. In the resurrection of Christ there is now a greater horizon beyond the grave – the person of faith sees this greater horizon and lives by this greater horizon even now.

There is and will be judgement. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, writes, “We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.” The invitation is given to newness of life in Christ. Judgement will be made on how much we haveaccepted this invitation and, through Christ, grown beyond sin. In Christ, it is always possible to move beyond sin. Don’t believe the lie. Forgiveness, healing and freedom are always possible in Jesus.

Heaven and the possibility of Hell are real. “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” I believe that one of the most beautiful liturgies that the Church has is the funeral Mass. In the funeral Mass we commend our loved one into the mercy of God. This is as far as we can go. Final judgement belongs to God alone.

Purgatory is a teaching of the Church. I recently heard someone refer to purgatory as the mudroom needed before we can enter into the full warmth and welcome of heaven. The focus of purgatory is not pain and punishment but purgation, being cleansed of sin, in preparation for full entrance into the Kingdom of God. The thought that we can help those in purgatory by our prayers is a testament to our deep faith in the resurrection of Christ. In the resurrection of Jesus, death has lost its power as the final and ultimate separation. In the power of the resurrection, our prayers can now assist even those who have died and who look toward the mercy of God.

Here is an interesting note – the Church has been given the authority to publicly proclaim that a certain person, known for his or her heroic faith and virtue, is in heaven. This is the canonization process where a saint is proclaimed. The Church has never in a public and teaching way proclaimed that any certain person is in Hell – that final separation from God. The Church has acknowledged that certain people have excommunicated themselves from the Church, removed themselves from the body of believers (ex-communio) by persisting in erroneous beliefs and practice but that is from the Church. Ultimate final judgement belongs to God alone. Sometimes the wisdom of the Church is demonstrated by what she does not or will not say just as much as by what she teaches and proclaims.

The four final things are real and how we live our life today, in awareness of those things, matters.

Easter: Living forward into forever

19 Saturday Apr 2025

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Fr. Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries – the largest gang intervention ministry in the world.  I recently listened to an interview with Fr. Boyle and in the course of the interview he offered a wonderful insight; “None of us are going to live forever,” he said, “but, in Christ, we are invited to live in the forever.” 

This truth – Jesus is risen! – is the heart of Easter.  The invitation given to us to live in the forever – in baptism we have died with Christ in the hope of rising with him – comes from the heart of Easter.  And this invitation has already begun in our lives.  We are already living in the resurrection today.  We are already invited by the risen Jesus to live now in the forever. 

We need to be clear on what is meant by “resurrection”.  In the resurrection, Jesus “does not come back to life, to his old life, like Lazarus, to die all over again sometime later.  No, in the resurrection, Jesus comes forward to life in a new world, to new life according to the Spirit” (The Mystery of Easter by Raniero Cantalamessa, p. 41). 

The resurrection moves forward – the tomb is emptied – we live into the forever now. 

When sin is forgiven, we live into the forever.  When resentment is let go of in order to understand, we live into the forever.  When friendship is chosen rather than prejudice, we live into the forever.  When we choose to learn the ways of peace and forget the ways of violence, we live into the forever.  When we reach out in care and charity rather than falling back into fear, we live forward into the forever.  When we choose that which is true and good over fleeting illusion, we live forward into the forever.  When we choose to build community rather than to succumb to division, we live forward into the forever.  When we cultivate hope rather than despair, we live forward into the forever. 

That first Easter morning; the women, Peter and John all saw that the tomb was emptied.  The reactions were amazement, wonder and belief.  The tomb is emptied and left behind because Jesus in the resurrection is living forward into the forever. 

Easter – throughout history – has been celebrated in all situations: war, social upheaval, economic uncertainty, pandemics, when the Church is in peace and when the Church is being persecuted.  Easter continues because Easter is not bound by the tombs of this world.  Easter is celebrated today and it will be celebrated next year and all the years after that. 

The tomb is emptied and left behind by Jesus.

Jesus is risen and now, in Christ, we also live forward into forever. 

Jesus is risen!  He is risen, indeed! 

Learning Righteousness this Holy Week

13 Sunday Apr 2025

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In Luke’s account of the passion, we are told – in our translation – that the centurion on witnessing the death of Jesus, glorifies God and says, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.”  A number of Scripture scholars argue that this is a poor translation of the original Greek.  The more accurate translation has the centurion saying, “This man was righteous beyond doubt.”  Why is this important?  A person can be innocent of a particular crime but not innocent in other aspects of life.  “Righteousness” on the other hand implies that the whole of one’s life has been actively lived in right relationship with God. 

This righteousness is witnessed in the very last words that Jesus proclaims before his death – “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”  In Hebrew tradition, it is held that these are the words a righteous person should say right before death.  “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”  Living in right relationship with God, even to the very moment of handing one’s spirit over to God in faith and trust. 

Finally, the righteousness of Christ is witnessed by the crowd of people themselves.   Luke tells us that the people went home “beating their breasts”.  This is not the chest thump of triumph.  “Beating one’s breast” is the sign of repentance.  No longer lost in the spectacle, no longer caught up in the madness of violence, the people recognize what has truly happened – a righteous man has been unjustly murdered before their eyes.  They return home repentant of the tragedy that just occurred and their part in it. 

Jesus is the righteous one, the one who obeyed his Father’s will, the one who lived his whole life in right relationship with the Father.  As we prepare to enter into Holy Week, it is worthwhile reflecting on the true righteousness of Jesus and, through that reflection, learning what it truly means to be righteous before God. 

Here are some words from our tradition to aid us in this reflection.  The words are from a contemporary translation written by David Fleming, S.J. of the “Principle  and Foundation”.  Reflecting on the great love of God and how that love is revealed to us every day, the prayer says,

In everyday life then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some responsibility.  We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.  For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a more loving response to our life forever with God.  Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening life in me.

Jesus is the Righteous One – the centurion, the crowd and the Hebrew tradition witness it.  As we walk these days of Holy Week, it is worthwhile to pray and ask, “Jesus, help me to be righteous.  Teach me how to live in right relationship with God.”   

The Beatitudes and the Sacred Red Road

15 Saturday Feb 2025

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Black Elk was a member of the Native American Lakota tribe.  He is best known for the book, “Black Elk Speaks” where he shares his life story and the story of the Lakota people.  When he was nine years old, Black Elk fell into a coma like state for a number of days.  In his illness he had a vision that guided him throughout his life and he came to be recognized as a powerful Medicine Man among his people.  Later in life, Black Elk joined the Catholic Church and served as a catechist for twenty years.  He lived a life authentic to his people’s beliefs and his Catholic faith even as he experienced great tragedy in his life. A cause for his canonization has begun.  God willing, one day he may be a recognized saint in the Catholic Church. 

Black Elk shares the thought among the Lakota people that there are two roads in life – the black road and the red road.  The black road is the road that every person must walk.  There are no exceptions.  On the black road we encounter loss, suffering, anguish, division.  In life we will all walk the black road in one form or another.  The red road is the sacred road as it leads to God the creator.  The red road is the road of spiritual growth and maturity. 

The black road and the red road intersect and where the roads cross is the center of creation.  The roads cross exactly in those times of pain and loss we experience as we walk the black road and the red sacred road is discovered and recognized in those moments when we realize that God the creator is indeed with us.  Once we recognize that God is with us even and especially in the moments of pain, we begin to walk the red sacred road toward spiritual maturity and understanding and that moment of recognition becomes the center of the world because God is there with us. 

In today’s gospel (Lk 6:17, 20-26), Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor … Blessed are you who are now hungry … Blessed are you who are now weeping … Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you …”  These are moments on the black road that we will all experience, that we will all have to walk through but these moments become means of blessing when we recognize that God is there with us and we welcome his companionship, in that moment, we begin to walk the red sacred road and we are at the center of creation.  “… for the kingdom of God is yours … for you will be satisfied … for you will laugh … your reward will be great in heaven.” 

But there are also the “woes”.  “But woe to you who are rich … woe to you who are filled now … woe to you who laugh now … woe to you when all speak well of you.”  These are the ones who have only walked the black road.  They may have been more comfortable and sheltered in life but because their focus was only on self, they never allowed themselves to meet God in those moments of pain and loss.  They never walked the red sacred road.  They never stood at the center of creation.  They arrive at the end-of-life lacking depth and maturity.  They arrive at the end of life very poor for having only walked the black road.  “Woe to these people,” says our Lord. 

Black Elk and the Lakota people knew the truth that our Lord proclaims.  There are two roads in life.  We all must walk the black road.  We are all called to walk the red sacred road.  The blessing or the woe is found in the choice we make in whether or not to recognize the presence of God with us and the choice to strive to live the life we have been given in honest relationship with God. 

Messiah and Servant of God – the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

12 Sunday Jan 2025

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If you feel that this has been a short Christmas season you are not wrong.  Sometimes the calendar affords another Sunday during the days of Christmas but not this year.  The season ends with today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord but even during the days between the Feast of the Epiphany and today’s feast, the Church (reflected in the weekday Mass readings) begins to turn its gaze away from the manger scene and the wonder of the incarnation and towards the adult Jesus as he begins his public ministry.  Today, we gaze upon Jesus who accepts his mission from the Father.

In his book, “The Holy Spirit in the Life of Jesus” Cardinal Raneiro Cantalamessa notes that something unique was accomplished in the very life of Jesus on that day by the Jordan river.    Cantalamessa points out that it is at this point in his “growth in wisdom and grace” that his mission becomes apparent to Jesus in “clear and concrete terms”. Jesus is to be the Servant of God.

In the reading from Isaiah (Is. 42:1-4, 6-7) we hear it said, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit…”  In today’s gospel, the voice of the Father is heard saying, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  In the descent of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Father, Jesus – who is both the eternal Word made Flesh and fully human – is able to say “yes” to his mission from the Father.  Jesus was to assume the role of the Servant of Yahweh. 

In the time of Jesus there was (as we heard in the gospel) a growing expectation of the coming of the Christ, the Messiah – often spoken and thought of in earthly terms of power and authority.  But also in the thought of Israel (reflected in Isaiah and the other prophets) there began to emerge the image of the “servant of Yahweh” who would accomplish God’s will by suffering, by self-abasement, by being held in contempt, by sacrifice. 

Cantalamessa writes, “It is at this moment (that day on the banks of the Jordan river), therefore, insofar as it is given for us to know, that the fusion occurs in Jesus’ consciousness – in his human consciousness – of the two figures of the Messiah and the Servant of God…”  Jesus is Messiah but he will fulfill his mission as Messiah by being the Servant of God. 

During the days of Christmas, we have been invited to gaze upon the infant Christ and reflect upon the wonder of the incarnation.  On today’s Feast of the Baptism of the Lord we are invited to gaze upon Jesus who begins his mission by being anointed with the Holy Spirit and hearing the voice of the Father.  The most fundamental response any of us can make to Christ is to gaze upon him. 

I will end by offering two images of Jesus for us to gaze upon.  Jesus who is Messiah and Servant of God.  The first image is from the beginning of Jesus’ mission – though sinless, Jesus is willing to be in the very midst of sinners who are seeking John’s baptism of repentance.  The second image is from the end of Jesus’ ministry when he fulfills his mission in obedience to the will of the Father – though sinless, Jesus is willing to be sacrificed on the cross for us with a sinner on his left and a sinner on his right. 

Jesus alone is Messiah and he fulfills his mission as Messiah through his willingness to be the Servant of God. 

Epiphany – the invitation to love

05 Sunday Jan 2025

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Scholars suggest that the Magi mentioned in today’s gospel (Mt. 2:1-12) probably journeyed from the area around Babylon.  If that were the case, the Magi who came to give homage to the newborn king of the Jews travelled around 900 miles.  The distance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem is around 7 miles yet Herod, the chief priests and the scribes – even when being able to point to the prophecy in Scripture – could not bring themselves to leave the comfort of the court in order to also give homage.  Why the difference between the Magi willing to travel over 900 miles and the local authorities not willing to travel 7 miles?

The difference is love.  Even before seeing the newborn king, the Magi were caught up in love of the newborn king.  This was more than a journey to prove some abstract theory of star alignment.  The abstract does not give the resolve needed to endure the hardship of a 900-mile journey.  Only love gives such resolve.  Unlike Herod and his officials imprisoned in their fear and complacency, the Magi were caught up in the love of a God that they could not see but would soon behold in the smallness of a manger. 

Epiphany gives each of us the same invitation to come and adore Jesus.  Epiphany invites us to love Jesus.  In his book, “Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God” Cardinal Cantalamessa asks the fundamental question, “Why should we love Jesus?” and in response he offers six reasons.  Each worthy of note. 

The first reason, Jesus has asked us to.  At the end of John’s gospel, the risen Lord asks Peter the same question three times, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  It will be the same question asked of each of us when we each stand before Jesus and it will not be enough to say, “Lord, I belonged to the church.  I went to Mass.”  No, the question will be direct and focused there will not be others.  Jesus will look at each of us and ask, “Do you love me?”  We will be judged on this love.  Jesus asks us to love him, pure and simple. 

The second reason is that Jesus has loved us first.  This truth needs to sink into every aspect of our lives and every corner of our heart.  We are loved infinitely by Jesus.  It is that love of Christ that impels us. 

Third, we ought to love Jesus because he deserves to be loved and is loveable in himself.  Everything that is good, everything that is true, everything that is beautiful is fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.  Within our very being has been planted, by God himself, the yearning to love and know the good.  This is Jesus and he alone answers this deepest yearning of the human heart. 

We ought to love Jesus because only those who love him can know him.  Everyone – believer, atheist, non-believer, non-Christian, secular agnostic – seems to have an opinion about Jesus and many are quite sure in their opinion but opinion does not equal knowing.  Only when we love Jesus do we begin to know Jesus.  Love and true knowledge demand this risk.  Opinions are just puffs of wind. 

Fifth, we ought to love Jesus because everyone who loves him is loved by the Father.  Jesus says this again and again throughout the gospels.  We need to take him at his word. 

Finally, we ought to love Jesus because only by loving him (continually striving to live in relationship with him) is it possible to live his words and put his commandments into practice.  Are we finding the living of the faith difficult?  Before we beat ourselves up for a perceived lack of will and determination on our part, it would be more beneficial to ask, “Am I talking to Jesus?  Am I praying?  Am I welcoming Jesus into my life?”  The Christian life has never been meant to be a solo mission.  We know the Kingdom by walking with Jesus and welcoming Jesus to walk with us. 

The difference between the Magi and the officials is love.  Epiphany invites us to love Jesus, to adore like the Magi and in that adoration, Epiphany gifts us with the ability to persevere – just like the Magi – in the journey of our lives. 

Where Hope is Born: Second Sunday of Advent – C

08 Sunday Dec 2024

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This Sunday is the only time that we hear from the prophet Baruch in the three-year cycle of Sunday readings.  Baruch was thought to have been the scribe of the prophet Jeremiah, and his writing is a reflection on the history of the people of Israel and the experience of the Babylonian exile.  For Baruch history and the hopes and belief of Israel are intertwined.  The same is true for us Christians.

We have the hope of salvation and the hope of the fullness of the Kingdom of God.  In Advent we await the coming of the one whose life, death and resurrection opens the way for us to return home to the Father.  This is the hope that has been planted within our hearts but this hope grows within our daily context and within in our daily journey of faith and not despite it.  Luke is quite specific in his gospel (Lk. 3:1-6). In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Herod was tetrach of Galilee, Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanius was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas…”  This was a hard time for Israel – the country was brutally occupied.  Caesar was a foreign emperor; Pilate was his governor.  The tetrarchs were seen as collaborators.  And precisely into this the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah. 

We look at our world today – the war in Ukraine and the Holy Land, the polarization in our own country, the social confusions, the natural disasters and it is precisely into this that the word of God comes to us and it is in this reality and not despite it that hope is born and strengthened by this hope we move forward.  Hope is born in the reality of our world and it is also born in the reality of our lives.  

Baruch gives a powerful image of God commanding that the mountains be made low and the age-old depths and gorges be made into level ground so that his people can joyfully return to Jerusalem.  The mountains and the gorges are the obstacles preventing the people from returning.  What are the mountains, the age-old depths, the obstacles in our lives that stand in the way of our returning to the Father?  The addictions we have cultivated, the pride we nurse, the sin we allow, the resentments we hold on to, the prejudice we turn a blind eye to, the list can go on.  These are the mountains and the gorges we have thrown up between us and God.  And into this the word of God comes undeterred.

How is God laying low the mountains and filling in the gorges of our lives?  By Jesus who is the way and by the outpouring of his grace and the salvation he won for us.  How do we prepare the way of the Lord these days of Advent, how do we find hope?  We receive the sacraments, we confess our faults, we live Christian charity, we pray and work for peace, we forgive and we ask for forgiveness not despite the reality of our life right now but within it. 

And in this, hope is born.  Paul witnesses to this truth in his letter to the Philippians, I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.  

Home, Hope, Redemption and Light: First Sunday of Advent, Year C

01 Sunday Dec 2024

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Recently, a priest friend of mine shared with me some themes that he found present in this First Sunday of Advent’s prayers and readings, themes that are worthy of our carrying and reflecting upon these next four weeks.  I would like to share some of the themes but add my own take upon them.  The themes are: home, hope, redemption and light. 

Home.  This last liturgical year I made the Nineteenth Annotation retreat and in the fourteenth week of the retreat I had a truly profound prayer experience – Jesus invited me to the Father’s house.  In my mind, the Father’s house was a small cabin in the woods.  It was a winter night, there was snow on the ground and it was cold but there was warmth, light and laughter coming from the cabin.  Jesus welcomed me and the Father was there – not seen – but a deep abiding presence.  In my heart I heard the Father say, “Welcome, Michael, you are always welcome here.”  Part of the expectation of Advent – as we await the coming of the Messiah – is that we have a home.  Each one of us has a home.  Our home is in the fullness of the Kingdom with the Father, the Son and the Spirit and we are always welcome there. 

Hope.  In today’s gospel (Lk. 21:25-28, 34-36), Jesus calls us to be vigilant but the vigilance of the Christian is not a vigilance founded in fear but rather a vigilance rooted in hope.  Notice the distinction that Jesus makes in the gospel.  “There will be signs,” says Jesus and “nations will be in dismay” and “people will die of fright” but then Jesus tells his disciples that when these signs occur, “stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”  Christians live in hope and not fear.  We stand erect and we raise our heads because we know that Jesus is Lord.  The cry of Advent, “Maranatha!” (Come, Lord Jesus!) is never a cry of fear but rather a bold proclamation of hope.  Every Advent calls the Church to hope. 

Redemption.  Jesus calls us to raise our heads because our “redemption is at hand”.  “Redemption” is a powerful and heavy word and we often think of it in final terms but in our Lord’s words we also see that redemption takes root in our lives and begins to grow and have effects today.  In redemption, we learn and we find the strength to begin to let go of those things, those decisions, attitudes and anxieties that make us “drowsy” from carousing and drunkenness.  In redemption, we learn to let go of actions and mindsets that block life in order to choose that which leads to true life.  Redemption is more than just a final goal for the Christian.  Redemption is a growing and living seed planted in the heart of every disciple by Jesus himself.

Light.  This Sunday, we light the first Advent candle and we will light the other candles over the next three weeks.  The light grows with each candle even as the days become shorter and the darkness of winter lengthens.  The light dispels the darkness and we await the coming of the light of the world and this light transforms our hearts even as we await it.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.  We await the coming of the light and we let that light find a home in our hearts.

Home.  Hope.  Redemption.  Light. 

Come, Lord Jesus!