Dear Friends,
Sunday, November 27th begins the Advent season for the liturgical Christian churches. Funny enough, we begin at the end — thinking about THE END – the end of the world. The early Christians believed Jesus was coming “soon and very soon.” The early generation of Christians thought the end would come soon. Jerusalem fell in 70 CE but Jesus didn’t come.
The first reading from Isaiah is a wonderful piece of prose.
You have delivered your face from us and delivered us up to our guilt.
Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you are the potter: we are all the work or your hands. (Is. (64 6-7.)
(You can find the entire passage and the other Mass readings by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.)
Jesus admonishes us in today’s gospel (Mk 13:33=37):
“Be watchful! Stay alert! You do not know when the time will come.
What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”
Yes, we should be . . .
prepared / watchful / alert / aware / awake
knowing what’s happening
. . . but so many of us are asleep, Lord.
We tend to not recognize the signs of the times.
We often dull our senses / stay in our own little worlds,
choosing not to care.
We’re complacent, Lord.
Many don’t want to be bothered pondering or praying about the real issues
And thus, we go like lemmings over the cliff.
Tribulations. Fear. Threats
. . . of losing our job / having a lump in our breast /
losing health insurance because we lost our job.
Global warming / debt crisis / election season
corruption on Wall Street and government
swine flu / chemical warfare/ cyber war.
Standing erect. Facing our fears with courage.
Being strong!
Not fearing the terror of the night (Psalm 91.)
That’s what Advent faith is all about:
Being vigilant. Being prepared for anything life throws at us.
Standing proudly humble or humbly proud, no matter what.
That’s the kind of faith in life — in You, my God, that I seek.
I want it. I ask you for it.
Today I consent to it.
Amen. So be it!
+ + + + +
There will be fresh blog posts (God willin’ n’ the creek don’t rise) each day of Advent till Christmas.
Why not make this Christmas season a special one for you — a meaningful one?
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All the best,
Have a wonderful Advent!
Bob Traupman
contemplative writer
Now before you go, here’s a song to get you in an Advent mood from Godspell. Click here – enter full screen and turn up your speakers. And as Tiny Tim would say, God bless you, everyone. But that’s getting a little ahead of ourselves.
(Here are today’s Mass: click here.)
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