Advent / Christmas --  2008

Lighting the way to Bethlehem with Mary!

Advent calls us to remember that Christ came once in history and that he will come again at the end of time to take us home with God in heaven.  Each year we focus on this mystery through the lens of the readings assigned by the church and the signs of our own times.  This year invites us to remember God’s presence among us in the signs of hope and light.  We, the Liturgy Committee, were drawn to make this year’s journey in a special way with Mary.

   The Sundays of Advent invite us into the promise of our salvation offered to us by our ever faithful God. We begin by asking God to come and bring us back to the loving care of the Shepherd of Israel.  We eagerly watch and hope for renewed light in our lives.

On the Second Sunday we are overwhelmed with God’s desire to comfort us with a shepherd’s care and at the same time call us into the light of repentance and forgiveness. Making the way straight and preparing the way for our Lord gives us  the courage to seize the moment - as members of this holy people - to transform not only our own lives but also world around us - one act of kindness at a time.

By the third week God’s care for people is present in our care for the poor.  We are clothed in JOY, in JUSTICE, and in PRAISE.  We rejoice with Mary that God is doing great things among us: in mercy, in feeding the hungry, in caring for the poor, in being attentive to one another – our spouses, our children, those with whom we work and play.  As we seek holiness, we give witness to the light!  Our challenge is to hear the voice in the wilderness and to set things right.  The Angel Tree stands as a powerful witness of our bringing biblical justice to our world. GOD IS DOING GREAT THINGS AMONG US! HOLY IS GOD’S NAME!

And then on the Fourth Sunday we journey with David and with Mary to ready the dwelling place for our God to come and visit us.  In our hearts, our homes and in our Church community we sing CHRIST CIRCLE ROUND US.  We come to Bethlehem, (House of Bread) and seek to be open and receptive to the graces of this season, to echo Mary’s “yes” to all that God asks of us.  We pray that we might bring Christ’s light to all our hopes, our dreams, and our acts of justice so that our lives and the lives of those we care for might be transformed in hope and in love.  May God come to us in Christ Jesus, our savior, our Emmanuel.  Christ is indeed our Light and we are that light in our world.

On Christmas Day, as we listen again to the story of our Savior’s birth and sing of Shepherds and Angels and Joy to the World, we will take our place at the Altar of our salvation and sing with Christ and all the saints and angels our praise and gratitude for God’s abundant goodness to us all.

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to all peoples on earth!