Weekly Meditation December 7, 2009

Advent is our gifted, unique time of expectation, hope, waiting for the coming, longing for the presence of our Savior. The pace and excitement of life mounts as we prepare to celebrate the first coming of Jesus, our Savior born of Mary in Bethlehem 2000 years ago.

Pope Benedict XVI gave a beautiful homily at First Vespers of the First Sunday of Advent. He is insightful and inspiring in the frequent reflections and homilies he gives so generously. May I offer for your reflection a few lines from that homily:

Dear brothers and sisters, let us live the present intensely, when we already have the gifts of the Lord, let us live it projected to the future, a future full of hope. The Christian Advent thus becomes an occasion to reawaken in ourselves the true meaning of waiting, returning to the heart of our faith which is the mystery of Christ, the Messiah awaited for long centuries and born in the poverty of Bethlehem.

Coming among us, he has brought us and continues to offer us the gift of his love and of his salvation. Present among us, he speaks to us in many ways: in sacred Scripture, in the liturgical year, in the events of daily life, in the whole of creation...May she (Mary), faithful disciple of her Son, obtain for us the grace to live this liturgical time vigilant and diligent in waiting.

Amen.