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For more information or to register call, Pat Sheridan, LCSW (914) 798-1103 or psheridan@divinecompassion.org

When the second and third generation believers in Jesus began to question his second coming among them, the author of the second reading encouraged the doubting and hopeless that even though the delay might seem untenable, God would indeed come to them in Jesus.  They, for their part, should make the most of the delay by using the time at hand to prepare themselves for welcoming God.  If you read between the lines, you might hear the ancient author say, “if you knew for certain that Jesus was coming tomorrow, what might you do to get ready?”  Take that agenda and make it your own today. These same words invite our serious, conscientious preparation for the God who comes.

In today’s Gospel, John the Baptizer is featured as one who took the necessity of being prepared very seriously.  John exercised a ministry that purposefully alerted others to the coming Jesus and urged them to prepare a way for him in their hearts and lives.  By his words, by his wardrobe and by the witness of his life, John became a living lesson in being prepared.  His example prompts us to consider our own level of preparedness for the God who comes.

When she considered the mystery of the coming of God, Teresa of Avila said in The Interior Castle  That even when we are engaged in worthy pastimes and business and pleasures and haggling, even when we are falling into sins and rising from them again, God comes to be in our midst.  God comes to us, said the mystic, through the conversations of good people, through sermons, through the reading of good books.

God also comes through wickedness and trials and in prayer, however feeble it might be.  God comes to us through the life of someone in whom we can see beauty and truth.  God comes in the love of another who loves us so deeply and unconditionally that we dare to accept our own lovableness. There is no limitation in the ways in which God comes and for that reason, every juncture of our lives can be a place of encounter with the divine.

During the season of Advent and Christmas, believers celebrate in a special way the ultimate encounter with God in the coming of Jesus.  The late Carlos Carretto (1910-1988), an Italian born member of the Little Brothers of Jesus, gave all of his adult life over to the contemplation of this mystery.  In  The God Who Comes, Carretto insisted that nothing could have replaced Jesus and his mission.  Through Jesus’ words and works, we come to know God’s will and God’s ways: in Jesus we see God’s holy face.

-Fr. Ed

Whenever we enter a new stage, we usually have some plans we’d like to implement before this time next year.  Some of these might be of a material nature, such as “I’m going to start a savings account for my children.” other plans concern health and well being: “I’m not going to overdo it at the Christmas party this time.”  Still others are geared toward improving relationships: “I will spend more quality time with my family,” “We’ll have supper together every night.”

Many us the start of a new liturgical year to try to improve their character.  We make pledges like “I will not gossip” “I will have a positive attitude toward life, toward myself, toward others.” “I will listen more carefully to what others have to say” “I will not complain about a problem but will do domething positive to remedy it.”  Some of us will also make plans to pray more regularly, to become better acquainted with scripture, to go to church as a family every Sunday or to volunteer our time, talent and treasure for a worthy cause.

Every one of these plans and decisions have merit, and we can certainly achieve the desired improvement, if we adhere conscientiously to our resolve.  But the sacred texts and their authors offer Advent beleivers a different course – one that begins with our surrender to a plan other than our own.  Jeremiahs gives eloquent expression to this surrender in today’s first reading where he admits to God, “You, O Lord, are the potter and we are the clay: we are all the work of your hands.”  Instead of carving out a future of our own making and carefully plotting every step of our journey we are to acknowledge that we do not belong to ourselves but to God.  We are earthen vessels given over to God, who kneads out shapes and refines.

God does this, explains Paul (second reading), Through grace, through spiritual gifts and by calling us to fellowship with Jesus. By surrendering to these gifts of God, we do not lose ourselves or our freedom; rather, we become better, truer, freer, deeper and more attuned to the ways and will of God.

In our surrender we do not remain passive.  On the contrary, to surrender is to be actively willing to discover and embrace the unexpected surprises of God.

As we consider the season that is now opening up before us, The sacred texts Invite our surrender to what may come.  Are we willing to set our plans aside and discover a plan that someone else has conceived for us?  Do we dare to welcome those whom God will send our way this Advent and allow them to have a hand in molding and refining who we are?

If we enter this season determined to surrender ourselves to God and to grace, who knows what good God may accomplish through us?  We are the clay, God; and you are the potter.

-Fr. Ed

Christ our King gave us a completely new and different way of judging the sort of life to which we must aspire if we are to grow close to God, if we are to find the fullness of meaning God intends for human life.

Christ as King gave us a new way of looking at our relationship with each other.

• Christ taught us to judge by our service, especially our service to those in most need
• hunger, thirst, and nakedness are immediate needs requiring immediate action, and Christ asks what we are doing right now for those suffering because of them.
• The stranger, the ill and those in prison often indicate more long-term challenges within our society and Christ asks how we are living our lives that their lives might be better

• Christ healed those right in front of him sent out his disciples to continue that work.  Our concern for others is to start right here, right now.

Christ is a different kind of king, a king who transforms that ideal of kingship. Christ challenges us as his subjects and desciples to transform our own lives into lives of service.  If we wish to grow close to Christ, who laid aside the glory of heaven in order to grow close to us, then we must sacrifice out of care and concern for our neighbors.

-Fr. Ed