Saturday, December 5, 2009

Lily is a good reminder

Sunday, December 6, 2009
Second Sunday of Advent
The Glorious Mysteries
Baruch 5:1-9
Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11
Luke 3:1-6

I guess it's because Lily is more aware of things this Christmas--after all, she will be 1 year and 1 week old this year--but I'm actually getting as excited about the Holy Day as I did when my own kids were babies!

And having a baby around the house is a good reminder for me that God humbled Himself to become one of His own creations as a baby!

Advent is all about the Incarnation - - that awesome moment when God, because of His love, entered our flesh to experience our sinful condition - - and to love, to repair it and to lead us to wholeness. That's why we must listen again to the urgent demand of John the Baptist that we recognize our sinfulness, bring it to light, and repent—or as Mom always said, “do our Christmas duties”.

Like the people of Israel, whose deep-down desire to be free of their sin brought them running to the desert, so we who hear this Gospel must consider John's message as addressed to us. Only when we are convinced again this Advent of our need for new grace to restore and refresh our hearts, can we truly appreciate the words of Baruch in the first reading, to come alive, to put on new garments of justice, and to be alert and ready.

Then the love in our hearts is stirred as we gaze at the manger scenes in churches and (hopefully) public squares and in our own living rooms. St. Paul's letter to the Philippians reminds us of our partnership in the Gospel, and that we are committed to increase our love all through our lives so that we will be "pure and blameless in the day of the Lord."

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"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".