Sunday, December 1, 2024 - Advent I

It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us goodness and thus to open doors of hope. Pope Benedict XVI  Jeremiah 33:14-16

Happy New Year! At least happy new liturgical year. Advent marks the beginning of our new year in the church.  Outside of the church, New Year’s Eve and Day are pretty big celebrations. It’s an exciting moment, counting down, imagining all the special things the New Year might have in store for us. There’s this idea that we can make big changes, improve ourselves, chart a new path. The new year can be a time filled with hope. Advent comes in with a lot less fanfare. For the most part, it is seen as little more than the countdown to the big event. No - not the dropping of the ball! I mean, of course, the birth of Jesus. But it is also, essentially, a time of hope. While we wait and count down the days until Christmas, we have the chance to reflect on the hope the birth of Jesus gives us.

In a beautiful essay called “Waiting for God,” Henri Nouwen says, “People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait.  They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow.  This is very important.  We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us.  So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something.  It is always a movement from something to something more.”

We have been given Jesus, along with His life and teachings, as well as His redeeming death. He planted this hope in us. Today’s readings are filled with hope and promise. These promises are so much better than what we would choose for ourselves in the average New Year’s Resolution. They are perfect and eternal. Advent is not a countdown. It is a call to throw open the doors to your heart. Let the hope of Jesus fill you with joy, and wait in the knowledge that with every day that passes, we move with Him toward something more. 

 

by Ceri Penner

 

 

"The Thrill of Hope"  Christy Nockels