Week 2 - Tuesday

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water; the abode where the jackals lurk will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus. (Isaiah 35: 5-7)

Reflection

In Advent we celebrate the miraculous transformations Isaiah talks about: the lame leaping and streams of water bursting forth in the desert. We also celebrate seemingly ordinary events, the birth of two babies, John the Baptist and Jesus, that are part of the unfolding of God’s salvation plan. In every event of our lives, God is there, with His mercy and love and purpose. God desires that all should feel His mercy and love just as the desert sands would experience the overflowing spring.

Advent Action

Let God’s mercy and love operate in your own life. Make up with a friend or family member you have been fighting with.

I go to prepare a place

by Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Now we come to what our Lord said about heaven. It was the night of the Last Supper. Jesus gathered about him all his apostles-poor, weak, frail men. He washed their feet. He was facing the agony in the garden, and that terrible betraying kiss of Judas, and even the denial of Peter himself. One would think that all the talk would be about himself. Certainly, when we have trials, that is what we think about. But our Lord thought about the apostles. He saw the sadness in their faces, and he said, "Be not troubled, do not be sad, I go to prepare a place for you. In my father’s house there are many mansions." How did he know about the Father’s house? He came from there. That was his home. Now preparing to go back home, he tells them about the Father’s house and he says, "I go to prepare a place for you." God never does anything for us without great preparation. He made a garden for Adam, as only God knows how to make a garden beautiful. Then, when the Jews came into the promised land, he prepared the land for them. He said he would give them houses full of good things, houses which they never built. He said that he would give them vineyards and olive trees which they never planted. just so, he goes to prepare a place for us. Why? Simply because we were not made for heaven; we were made for earth. Man, by sin, spoiled the earth, and God came down from heaven in order to help us remake it. After having redeemed us, he said that he would now give us heaven, so we got all this: the earth, and heaven too.

Source: Through the Year With Archbishop Fulton Sheen. IgnatiusInsight.com

Gospel Reflections on Matthew 18:12-14-26

Jesus said to his disciples, "If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the 99 in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it…he rejoices more over it than over the 99 that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost. Matthew 18:12-14-26

Luke's version of this parable is better known because it is read on Sundays. We call it the "parable of the lost sheep."

But Matthew uses the word "stray" instead of "lost" ("stray" appears three times in this passage.) Getting "lost" often means accidentally losing the way. To "stray" can imply deliberately roving from the course we know is right.

When we sin, we probably see ourselves more in the "stray" category – deliberately leaving the right path. We can identify with the words ascribed to St. Paul

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience. (1Tim 1:15-18)

We have to be sure to take in the whole first sentence of the quote: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The first thing the Lord says to a sinner isn't "Why did you stray?" The first thing he says is simply, "I came into the world for you."

Our celebration of Christmas isn't simply that Christ came into the world. It's that he came into the world…for sinners.

For me.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

Prayer