Fr. John's Reflection

We pray for and with Hope!

seems as though we spend our lives waiting. Waiting in lines at supermarkets or while shopping at various stores. We spend our time daydreaming about an upcoming vacation, worrying over a medical test or a procedure, preparing to welcome a new grandchild into our lives, wondering if our job will continue the same as last year or will it change under these economic conditions, etc, or, as some might say, ‘waiting for the next shoe to drop.” Our days can be lived in worry, anticipation and/or anxiety over what the future may hold.

As Catholics, we too spend our lives waiting. However, we live in anticipation of the return of our Savior who once was born, walked this earth, died and rose again. As we close out this liturgical year, we also end the month of November where we honored and remembered our loved ones who have gone before us. We also await our joining them in the future as we will meet them as members of the Great Cloud of Witnesses. Yes, we spend our lives waiting and anticipating, but we need to examine how we live out our waiting. As we await the return of Jesus in glory. Advent heightens this sense of waiting because it marks not only our anticipation of Jesus' final coming, but also our remembrance of His arrival into our world more than 2,000 years ago. We remember His life, His teachings and how we are to imitate and become like Him to the World — having hope and giving hope.

Let us live in Hope as the miracle is upon us. Let us truly believe in our prayer that we hear not just this First Sunday of Advent but we hear every Sunday and "wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ." Welcoming Jesus into our homes and our hearts, full of hope, we begin then to prepare to properly celebrate Jesus' birth, anticipate His return and we celebrate our rebirth in Him, Who is Our Light of Hope and Our Salvation.

As we begin this Season of Hope, reflect on the Advent Mystery in our own lives as we live each day as a beginning of an end. From an ending of all that is in humanity, moving toward divinity – because of new beginnings, lies the HOPE. Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, a mystic, a theologian, a spiritual writer, and once a professor at St. Bonaventure University, taught that in the “Advent Mystery of our own lives is the beginning of the end of all, in us, that is not Christ. It is not just a renewal of old, it is the coming of the new–all things new.”
“One of the hopes of a God-filled life is that our life will continue to grow and grow until it reaches its fulfillment in Heaven. God promises that He will always be faithful to us. Gift of God, fill my heart with Your hope and trust.” (“Daily Meditations with the Holy Spirit” Winkler, 2008)

Enter the Mystery. Live in Hope. Be Open to God’s Graces,
Fr. John