Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
The readings for the day can be found here.
Thank you for staying and praying with us on our Campus Ministry Advent web site these past few weeks. We pray your prayer has been enriched by the reflections of our colleagues.
The readings for the day can be found here.
Thank you for staying and praying with us on our Campus Ministry Advent web site these past few weeks. We pray your prayer has been enriched by the reflections of our colleagues.
Today,
the day before Christmas, the last day of Advent, we approach Jesus, the One
we’ve been anticipating, the One for Whom we’ve been waiting, the One for Whom
we’ve been praying: God, entering our lives.
Advent helps us prepare a place for Jesus, to welcome Him, All of the
ancient prophecies come to their culmination…
By
today, we’ve learned what Advent is not about, [shopping, busy-ness, planning,
baking, buying, parties, Santa, and on and on…] and in prayer, what Advent is
[expectant waiting, hopeful anticipation, joyful preparation] of God bursting
into our lives, now, then, forever, in all places, at all times.
…Today,
if not before, we can let go of all of the busy-ness in our preparations for
Christmas, we can stop rushing around.
We can really prepare for
Christmas. Today, certainly, at some
point, we can let go of all of the shopping, eggnog, planning, buying, cooking,
wrapping, banking, Santa, cards, trees, wreaths, gifts, decorating, dinners,
cookies, and more, or, at least, put it all in a different perspective. We could even, hard as it may be to imagine,
leave some things undone…waiting,
not finished, much as we are still waiting, still as we are certainly not
finished.
We need
to be awake and alert, we’re approaching the hour.
Emeritus
Pope Benedict XVI observed that It is the
beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus
to open doors of hope… and that is our prayer for you. Let’s continue to
pray for each other. May your memories
be filled with goodness, and open to hope…
Bill Kauffman
Interim President
Interim President
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A little
more than three weeks ago, we began Advent; now we’re ready to celebrate the
reason we started in all of this, in the first place.
Today is
the last day of Advent, Christmas Eve, and the readings call us to celebrate,
to remember the gifts we’ve been given, to relish the possibilities we’re
offered.
St. Luke
in the Gospel tells us about Zechariah the prophet, speaking to John the
Baptist, who affirms God’s promises--made and kept.
Zechariah is
clear about the role John will play in the new creation. He will introduce us all to the knowledge of salvation, forgiving sins, teaching us all about the tender compassion of our God. The promises of God in the Covenant have come
to fruition; God will enter our lives.
The brightening light of dawn will conquer the darkness,
leading us into hope, guiding us into peace, showing us the fidelity of God and
His covenant. We are called, each of us,
no less than John the Baptist, to prepare the way, on this journey we know as life. In our own lives, we
know we either move toward the Lord, or away from the Lord, and the readings
remind us of all God has done for us, and is yet to do for us.
May this
Christmas give you the gift of peace we’ve all been promised, and the freedom
that is ours because of Jesus. May we welcome Jesus into our homes and into our
lives, and may our lives and homes be transformed by Him, all through the tender
compassion of our God.
Merry Christmas!
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