The Dawn of Advent

Well, happy new year and happy Advent! (I know, a couple days late) What a beautiful time of year. The Church's new year, time to start fresh. It's funny how toward the end of the season of Ordinary Time, many readings in Mass were concerned with the "end of time," the second coming of Christ. And here as we begin Advent, we continue to hear about the coming of Jesus, as we did last Sunday, with being cautioned to "be ready" for Him, for we know not at what hour He will come. As this speaks of the second coming, we also spend Advent preparing to remember His first coming, when a young girl answered "yes" to the call of God, and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. The words "come, Lord Jesus!" echo in the hearts of all Christians in this season, as we await Christmas, as well as our Lord's second coming in glory.

And as we listen and reflect on these Gospels concerned with His coming, do we think about the "coming" of Christ we can witness each and every day? Do we stop and think of how God answers our prayer of "come, Lord Jesus" all over the world at every hour of the day at every single Mass, when Heaven kisses earth and the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord becomes incarnate before our very eyes? Does this perpetual coming of our Lord become redundant or routine? Let this time of Advent be a time for us to renew our love for the Mass and the Eucharist, where we can celebrate "Christmas" every day; a celebration of our Lord dwelling among us. Let us not forget that the glory of it all is the He IS here. Just as He promised. What a faithful God we have!

And, to echo the chillingly inspiring end to Fr. Baker's homily last Sunday,
GOD IS WITH US!!


"All the love in the world is right here among us."
~David Crowder