2014

Christmas

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. Since his wife died, it was just another day to him.  He was looking at the snow when the door opened and a homeless man stepped in. Instead of throwing the man out, George told him to sit by the heater to get warm.  “Thank you, but I don’t mean to intrude,” said the stranger. “You’re busy, so I’ll just go.” “Not without something hot in your belly.” George said. He opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. “It ain’t much, but it’s hot and tasty. Stew … Made it myself.  When you’re done, there’s coffee and it’s fresh.”

He then heard the “ding” of the driveway bell.  “Excuse me,” George said. In the driveway was an old ’53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front.  “Mister can you help me?” said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent.  “My wife is with child and my car is broken.”  George opened the hood. It looked bad. “You ain’t going in this thing,” George said. “But Mister, please help.” George went to the office and got the keys to his old truck, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. “Here, take my truck,” he said. “She ain’t the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good.” George watched as they drove off into the night. The stranger was gone. The Thermos was empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. “Well, at least he got something in his belly,” George thought.

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4th Sunday of Advent

Ask any young fiancée about her wedding plans and I am certain that besides looking forward to creating a home of her own, she has many dreams. Imagine how devastated she would be if something shattered her plans.

Now picture how Mary felt when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and disrupted her daily routine with the news that she was, not only favored by God, but that she, a virgin, would bear a son. For a bride to be pregnant nowadays is not so uncommon but back then that was scandalous. What went through Mary’s mind as the angel spoke to her? How would Joseph react? How could she explain this to anyone else?

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3rd Sunday of Advent

“I rejoice heartily in the Lord,” the prophet says in the first reading. And, why wouldn’t he?? He has glad tidings. His message is one of hope and joy. The poor will be taken care of, the brokenhearted will be healed, the captives will be freed, and the prisoners will be released. Who wouldn’t rejoice in these things?

We hear these beautiful words everywhere this time of year. But there is a disconnect! For many, for too many people, this is time of depression, not of joy. And why?, because the poor are still poor, and getting poorer; people are brokenhearted, just look at the faces of the homeless and marginalized in our community; captives and prisoners are not released, but being isolated like animals.

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2nd Sunday of Advent

John the Baptist is the very voice of Advent, the voice of the coming of the Lord Jesus to earth to intervene in the relationship between God and ourselves. What John said was not merely a word about Jesus, it was the gospel—It was the beginning of the Good News for the world.

John and his message happened at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, and John and his message are still the beginning today for all those who want to walk with Jesus, for all those who want to find their way out of the wilderness and into a life with Jesus.

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1st Sunday of Advent

With today’s instant and easy communication technology, we often know when company we are waiting for will show up. We know when their plane will land, or what ferry their car will be boarding and if the ferry line is long, we usually get a text from them guessing how long their ferry wait will be. While Christ won’t exactly text us the time of his arrival, we can see signs of his presence now if we are alert.

Despite our inclination to count the days until Christmas, Advent isn’t about waiting for the birth of the Christ child for he was born in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. Instead, Advent is a reminder that we are waiting for the second coming of Christ, for Emmanuel, for God to be with us. In Greek, this was known as the parousia.

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