December 8 through December 14, 2024
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(December 8, 2024: Second Sunday of Advent)
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“Prepare the way of the Lord.”
John went throughout the whole region proclaiming a baptism of repentance as it is written using the words of Isaiah: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths."
Just as John the Baptist reminds the people in the region of the Jordan to prepare the way of the Lord, so too we are called to do the same. It started with our Baptism when we became members of the Body of Christ. It happens by our daily words and actions, our call to "Live Jesus" every moment of every day.
Our reading from Baruch reminds us to put on the splendor of the glory of God forever and our Responsorial Psalm reminds us that the Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
We should ask ourselves – are we truly filled with joy as we prepare the way of the Lord? This joy only happens if we work on our relationship with God and one another. We cannot give what we do not have. If God is not the center of our life, we will fail.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales tells us that devotion must be experienced in different ways: by the gentleman, the worker, the servant, the widow, the young girl and the married woman. Not only that, but its practice must be adapted to the strength, activities and duties of each individual person.
St. Francis de Sales believes that we must start with our interior, that is, with our prayer life. If we work on building a healthy, ongoing relationship with God, it can go a long way in helping us to build, healthy, ongoing relationships with others. It can help us to put into action the prayer of St. Paul: “I pray always with joy in every prayer for all of you”.
If we are deepening our relationship with God on a daily basis, we will be better able to prepare the way of the Lord with joy in our daily encounters with one another. We will be able to “Live Jesus” every moment of every day.
Together!
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(December 9, 2024: Immaculate Conception)
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“She became mother of all the living...”
The reading from the Book of Genesis ends with the statement: “The man called his wife Eve because she became the mother of all the living.”
Eve is the mother of us all. We all bear traces of her maternity by virtue of the fact that we are impacted by original sin. Eve’s “yes” to the serpent’s temptation continues to affect our lives even to this day.
Good for us that another woman is likewise “the mother of all the living.” However, she is our mother in an entirely different way; her “yes” affects us in an entirely different way. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Honor, venerate and respect with special love the holy and glorious Virgin Mary who, being the Mother of Jesus Christ our Brother, is also in truth our very mother. Let us then have recourse to her, and as her little children cast ourselves into her bosom with perfect confidence, at all times and on all occasions let us invoke her maternal love whilst striving to imitate her virtues…” (Living Jesus, p. 224)
So, we have – in truth – two mothers. One mother is famous for saying “yes” to the temptation of the evil one; the other mother is famous for saying “yes” to the invitation of the Holy One: both with lasting effects!
Today which of our mothers will we imitate today?
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(December 10, 2024: Tuesday, Advent Weekday)
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“Comfort; give comfort to my people, says your God.”
In a commentary on the necessity to “reprint the Gospel,” Blessed Louis Brisson observed:
“The third evangelical task about which I want to speak is the evangelization of the nations - the preaching of Our Lord. Our Lord has come to earth to give us an example, to instruct us and to redeem us by His sufferings. The preaching of the Gospel was one of the principal reasons for His coming. We, therefore, should reprint the Gospel also by our preaching.”
“All of us should preach. Those who work with their hands as well as those who are occupied with exterior works, those who conduct classes as well as those who teach by example, those who direct souls as well as those who are assigned to the ministry of the pulpit - all of us should preach. We should preach in a practical way. We should teach our neighbor, if not by our words, at least by our actions. If you do so, do you think that you will have no influence on those who see you?” (Cor ad Cor, p. 30)
Today are you looking for a way to “reprint the Gospel?” Are you interested in doing your part to continue “the evangelization of the nations, the preaching of Our Lord?” Then here is one suggestion that comes directly from our God Himself: “Comfort; give comfort to my people.”
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(December 11, 2024: Wednesday, Second Week of Advent)
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“They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar as with eagles’ wings…”
Don’t bother to look around the room at other people’s hands or knees for weakness. We need to look no further than our own hands and knees or, for that matter, our own minds or hearts, our own spirits or psyches, to see the weakness to which the Prophet Isaiah refers in our first reading today.
This isn’t bad news. In fact, it’s very good news! The promise is that God will never “grow faint or weary” when it comes – as Jesus says in today’s Gospel – to giving us rest. Put another way, our weaknesses are not an obstacle to God’s transforming, empowering and inspiring love. In fact, our weaknesses are an entrée to that transforming, empowering and inspiring love. As the Preface for the Eucharistic Prayer for Martyrs reminds us, “God chooses the weak and makes them strong in bearing witness to him…”
Our ongoing need for divine comfort, healing and strength calls to mind Francis de Sales’ teaching on who should approach, celebrate and receive the Eucharist. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, he wrote:
“Two classes of people should communicate frequently: the strong lest they become weak, and the weak that they may become strong; the sick that they may be restored to health, and the healthy lest they fall sick. Tell them that for your part you are imperfect, weak and sick and need to communicate frequently with him who is your perfection and strength…” (Part II, Chapter 21)
Seen with the eyes of faith, all that may wear us down or make us weary should not be cause for shame. In fact, seen with the eyes of God, all that may wear us down and make us weary perfectly prepares us to be sustained, renewed and invigorated by the God who is always with us!
Let us learn from our meek and humble Jesus. As we find comfort and rest in him, t us offer that same comfort and rest as needed to one another.
Today!
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(December 12, 2024: Our Lady of Guadalupe)
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“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
In his book This Saint’s for You! Thomas Craughwell writes:
“On December 9, 1531, Juan Diego – a Nahua Indian who had recently converted to Christianity – was on his way to Mass when he heard singing on the summit of Tepeyac Hill. Curious to discover the source of the music, he followed a trail up the hill and at the summit met a young woman: dark-skinned, beautifully dressed and standing amid dazzling light. Speaking to Juan in Nahuatl (his own language), she introduced herself and instructed him to go to the bishop of Mexico City and tell him to build a church in her honor on the spot. Twice he attempted to persuade the bishop to do as Mary had asked; twice, the bishop turned him away. Juan wasn’t surprised that the bishop didn’t take him seriously: after all, he was a poor peasant. Juan urged Mary to ask someone with more status to deliver her message. Instead, Mary promised to give the bishop a sign that would prove to everyone for all time that what Juan Diego has reported was true. So, she commanded him to return to Tepeyac and gather flowers there. At the top of the hill he discovered gorgeous Castilian roses, growing six months out of season. He picked the flowers until his cloak was full. Them he carried them back to Marty, who took each rose in her hand before replacing it in Juan Diego’s cloak.”
“Tucking the edges of his cloak so that not a single rose would fall out, Juan hurried to the bishop’s palace where he was meeting with some of his chaplains and several servants. Juan entered the room and said, ‘You asked for a sign. Now look.’ He opened his cloak, and the magnificent roses cascaded onto the floor. But more astonishing than the roses was the image on his cloak: a perfect portrait of the Virgin Marty as Juan had seen her, beautifully dressed and with the dark complexion of an Indian. The bishop became convinced and built a church on Tepeyac Hill and enshrined the miraculous image over the high altar.” (This Saint’s for You! pp. 370 – 371)
We can all relate to Juan Diego. After all, haven’t each of us wondered from time to time in our lives how – or why – God has chosen us to be instruments of His will, sources of His hope and bearers of His Good News? Haven’t we ever suggested – perhaps not in so many words – that God would do better in selecting people with “more status” to give voice to God’s will for the people He loves and cherishes so much?
Juan Diego - however reluctantly – became convinced that what was spoken to him by the Lord (through His mother!) would be fulfilled. How much do we need to be convinced that what we speak on behalf of the Lord will be fulfilled?
Through us?
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(December 13, 2024: Friday, Second Week of Advent)
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“You’re damned if you do; you’re damned if you don’t.”
That statement pretty much sums up the message in today’s Gospel selection from Matthew. John the Baptizer was criticized for being aloof and austere; Jesus was criticized for being an accessible, down-to-earth man of the people. There was just no pleasing some people.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Does anyone fail to see that the world is an unjust judge, gracious and well-disposed to its own children but rigorous towards the children of God? We can never please the world unless we lose ourselves together with it. It is so demanding that it can’t be satisfied. ‘John came neither eating or drinking, says the Savior, and you say, ‘He has a devil.’ ‘The Son of Man came eating and drinking,’ and you say he is ‘a Samaritan.’ If we are ready to laugh, play cards or dance with the world in order to please it, it will be scandalized at us, and if we don’t, it will accuse us of hypocrisy or melancholy…” (IDL IV, Ch. 1, p. 236)
You know the old adage: if you try to please everyone, you end up making yourself miserable. On any given day follow the example of both John and Jesus; be who you are and be that as best as you can, come what may!
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(December 14, 2024: John of the Cross, Priest/Doctor of the Church)
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“You were destined…to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons.”
Advent is the season during which we are challenged ‘to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. In this season we are challenged to lay down our arms, and to let bygones be bygones.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales wrote:
“When your mind is tranquil and without any cause for anger, build up a stock of meekness and mildness. Speak all your words and do all your actions – whether little or great –in the mildest way you can: not merely with strangers but also among your own family and neighbors. As soon as you recognize that you are guilty of a wrathful deed, correct it as soon as possible by an act of meekness toward the person with whom you were angry.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 8, p. 149)
This season of peace – which is unlike any other season – reminds us of relationships in which peace is lacking. We are reminded of fences that need to be mended, hatchets that need to be buried and wounds that need to be healed with fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters, neighbors, co-workers and friends.
During this Advent season to whom do our hearts need to turn?
Or return?
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