Reflections for Advent

Well, we got through the end of the year (the end of the world), and through Thanksgiving, and even Black Friday. We’re now on the glide path to Christmas, right?  So what’s with today’s readings? Our first reading, if you squint a bit, might be looking forward to a merry Christmas – and since it’s […]

We arrive at the fourth week of Advent, and Christmas is close. This year, given the vagaries of the calendar, only one day away. Our readings now change character and emphasize that closeness, not so much as a matter of timing, but rather that God’s actions are now positioned clearly and directly within our day

Sometimes Advent is presented as a penitential season, almost a mini-Lent, a time for reflection on our inadequacy or unworthiness in the face of the incomprehensible gift that God gave us by sending His son. But today’s readings don’t fit in any way with that mindset. It’s all about rejoicing! Maybe rather than penance, we

As we move from the first to the second week of Advent, our readings are still pointing us forward (together with Peter’s reminder not to get hung up over timescales (2 Pet 3:8-14)). But the framework shifts. Last week Isaiah was speaking to us from a place of difficulty, almost overwhelmed by the challenges of

Birthdays, anniversaries, memorials, they are all important markers in our lives. And of course their significance changes over time. A birthday when we are 7 is not the same as one when we are 70. We may even continue to celebrate a birthday for someone after they are dead – recognizing the birthday of Lincoln

It takes two to make a baby. Except, of course, in the case of Jesus, which was rather special. John, when writing his gospel, had no problem at all with this – he situated Jesus in his cosmic position at the beginning of time: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

Today we hear another of those wonderful prophesies of Isaiah (Is 11:1-10). His vision of a world free of any kind of violence and division holds out hope to a people overwhelmed by conflict and danger. Paul notes: Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of

They shall beat their swords into plowsharesand their spears into pruning hooks;one nation shall not raise the sword against another,nor shall they train for war again. Is 2:4 What was Isaiah thinking? This makes no sense – he knew perfectly well that that didn’t describe the world he experienced in Judah at that time. It

Today we hear a story of two women (Lk 1:39-45). Two pregnant women supporting each other, as women have done since the beginning of human time, and doubtless will for all time to come.  We hear something of their intimacy. One very young and probably still trying to understand what has just happened to her.

Two weeks to Christmas! I remember that as a child it was about this time that Christmas started to seem close, the excitement grew, the wondering what presents were coming. We get some of the same sense of excitement, of expectation, in the people in Luke’s account of John the Baptist (Lk 3:10-18). Even the