Happy Advent! In his
homily last Sunday, Fr. Erik talked about being prepared to celebrate the mysteries of
our faith in the coming of our Lord at Christmas, but also at the second coming
at the end of time. This is a
predominant theme in our readings for daily Mass this week. One way to prepare is to focus our prayer in
different “directions” during Advent.
Try focusing on the following themes during the four weeks
of Advent. During the first week, focus
on hope, during the second, on peace, during the third, on joy, and during the
fourth, on love. Try to relate these
themes to how you are preparing to welcome Jesus at Christmas.
With hope as the theme for this first week of Advent, think
about what you hope for during this Advent and Christmas season. Jesus’ coming at his birth in Bethlehem gave
the shepherds hope as the angels announced to them that a savior had been born
for them, “who is Christ the Lord” (Luke
2:11). The shepherds would have
recognized this to mean that this child who had been born was to be the savior
of the world.
We can also see hope in the Mass readings during this week. The first readings come from the book of the
prophet Isaiah, describing the good things to come and the wonderful things
that are to happen in the future when God the Father will provide for
Israel. As we read these passages today,
we can think about the fact that, just as good things were promised to the
early Israelites if they kept their faith alive and strong, if we strive to
remain faithful as well, we do so in the sure and certain hope that we will one
day share in eternal life with God.
How will you incorporate and develop hope during the rest of
this first week of Advent?
Next week, the theme to focus on is Peace. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for an Advent prayer for peace, which will be posted next Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment