{"id":2718,"date":"2018-12-02T12:51:49","date_gmt":"2018-12-02T17:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2718"},"modified":"2018-12-02T12:51:49","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T17:51:49","slug":"1st-sunday-of-advent-year-c-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/1st-sunday-of-advent-year-c-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"1st Sunday of Advent, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

1st<\/sup> Sunday of Advent, Year C<\/a>
\nJeremiah 33:14-16
\nPsalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14 (1b)
\n1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
\nLuke 21:25-28, 34-36
\nDecember 2, 2018<\/p>\n

Today begins a new year, a new year in the church that is.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 Incarnation that we celebrate at Christmas set in motion his public ministry of preaching, teaching, and doing miracles, culminating in his Crucifixion and Resurrection.\u00a0 Since the Incarnation sets all this in motion, it is at this time of year that we begin our new liturgical year in our Church.\u00a0 We will hear predominately from Luke\u2019s Gospel this year.<\/p>\n

Yet, it is not the exact date of Christmas that starts our new year.\u00a0 The church calendar gives us a time of preparation to get ourselves ready.\u00a0 Of course, the season we begin today is Advent, noted by the violet vestments and banners.<\/p>\n

Advent always has four Sundays.\u00a0 It is a time of waiting.\u00a0 Secular society rushes to Christmas.\u00a0 Christmas decorations outside are already up in many places but we know it is not Christmas yet.\u00a0 We need to get ready.\u00a0 We need to prepare.<\/p>\n

Advent is a time of preparation for our celebration of the first coming of Jesus when he was born of the Virgin Mary, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger.<\/p>\n

Our first reading from Jeremiah is a prophesy about the first coming of Jesus.\u00a0 It is a reminder to the Jews of God\u2019s promise to send a messiah as a \u201cjust shoot<\/em>\u201d from David.\u00a0 Thinking of the first coming of Jesus fills us with hope.\u00a0 We need this hope.\u00a0 The hope Jesus offers is offered to us everyday but Christmas really brings it alive for us.\u00a0 We see it in how the attendance at our Christmas Masses often doubles that of a normal Sunday.<\/p>\n

As Advent is a time of preparation to celebrate Christmas, it is also a time to prepare ourselves for the Second Coming.\u00a0 Our gospel reading speaks of the Second Coming of Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus tells us that \u201cPeople will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 These images might seem scary but our fear of the Second Coming can also be rooted in the fact that we are not ready.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t always stay vigilant.\u00a0 When Jesus speaks, \u201cdo not become drowsy<\/em>,\u201d he is not speaking simply of physical tiredness.\u00a0 He is speaking of growing weak in following his way and to not be consumed by \u201cthe anxieties of daily life<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 We need to \u201cbe vigilant at all times<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

We know this but we don\u2019t always do it.\u00a0 When we fall short, how often do we tell ourselves there is always tomorrow?\u00a0 We have seen many tomorrows but when the Second Coming happens, there will be no tomorrows left in this world.<\/p>\n

We need to change, we need the Lord to make us \u201cincrease and abound in love<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 So, in our opening prayer, we ask that the Lord grant us \u201cthe resolve to run forth to meet your Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

In our psalm today, we hear repeated requests to the Lord to teach us and guide us, to show \u201csinners the way.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 We are sinners.\u00a0 The only way we are going to change is to listen to the Lord.\u00a0 So, in our responsorial verse, we cry out \u201cTo you, O Lord, I lift my soul<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his teaching and preaching, Jesus helps us understand the Lord\u2019s ways, to help us understand that the Commandments are not just rules but a way of life that is good for us.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 teaching is a great aid to us.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit is vital to our following Jesus yet we know we remain sinners.\u00a0 We try to \u201cbe vigilant at all times<\/em>\u201d but we remain weak.<\/p>\n

Soon, we celebrate the Incarnation of Jesus.\u00a0 As I already said, this gives us hope.\u00a0 The birth of any baby can bring joy but the birth of Jesus brings us an everlasting joy.\u00a0 In becoming incarnate, Jesus unites himself to us.\u00a0 We have a high priest who knows what it is like to suffer.\u00a0 Most of all, we have a savior who died so that our sins might be forgiven and he shows us the way to eternal life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1st Sunday of Advent, Year C Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14 (1b) 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 December 2, 2018 Today begins a new year, a new year in the church that is.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 Incarnation that we celebrate at Christmas set in motion his public ministry of preaching, teaching, and doing miracles, …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘1st Sunday of Advent, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[223,82],"tags":[524,148,525,149],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-HQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2719,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions\/2719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}