November 27, 2022 - First Sunday of Advent

This Sunday we begin the Season of Advent. The word “Advent” means arrival or coming. The good news is that God’s gift of self to us in Christ has already arrived, a new continual abiding presence of God with us. ALREADY God has acted decisively in our lives. In our first reading the prophet Isaiah invites us to “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain to the house of the God of Jacob.” Christ has come, giving his life for us, and in his Spirit he continues to walk with us up the mountain of life to God’s house. But our world is NOT YET what it is meant to be. In the words of Marty Haugen’s song, “Still the nations curse the darkness, still the rich oppress the poor, still the world is bruised and broken by the ones who still want more.” We all continue to fall into the trap of the pursuit of more power, prestige, and possessions rather than to our relationship with God and each other. Both St. Paul and Jesus remind us that we are better than this. They root us on to “STAY AWAKE” and “BE PREPARED” for however and whenever Christ will come again at the end time. Throw off any “works of darkness” Paul says, and “put on the armor of light,” the light that Christ has already brought to you that is present in his Spirit within you! Fr. John Mark Ettensohn, OMI