Blog Post 12/18/ 2022 - Advent Sojourn Homily Offered at OLPH

 

St. Augustine said, "To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement."  

 

 

Many people think the world has gone crazy, the singing group Pentatonix released a song that speaks to that called, Prayers For This World.

“These are hard times in these times
Feels like the world's 'bout to capsize
Feels like it might take a miracle
To make it out alive
The clock is ticking, what do we do?
Is someone listening?
Help us through

Prayers for this world
Bring peace to its doors
Bring hope to its shores
We've got to change it
Prayers for this world.”

 

Our Advent Waiting is almost over but not our Hoping.  We Hope for a peace filled, joy filled AND grace filled world.

 

Ponder this, What would the world be like if this Christmas we wanted:

the healing of broken relationships, 

someone to say I love you,

the courage to correct something that is wrong,

the healing of someone’s brokenness,

the heart of the prodigal son’s father,

the faith of the farmer who plants,

the hope of the merchant in search of the pearl of great price,

the courage of Isaiah,

the humility of Paul,

the trust and faith of Mary to say “YES”, the compassion of Joseph to love Mary and Jesus.

 

What we need and what the world needs is not found under the Christmas tree.  The “gifts” we need can be found in our hearts, in the quiet of the starlit night where Jesus waits for us to commit to be His disciple.  In the manger of our hearts, we need to ask God to forgive us for the love we take for granted, the love not offered & the love we fail to celebrate.

 

May Mary’s YES, & Joseph’s YES encourage us to say YES to GOD during these last days days of Advent and then each day that follows.  Say YES to GOD, answer the call to live the dream as a follower of the Babe of Bethlehem; the world will be better if you do. 

[Adopted from Connections December 2022]

 

Remember what St. Augustine said, "To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement."

 

Tomorrow night we have our Penance Service, if possible, plan to attend to help prepare your soul for  Christmas.

 

May God Be Praised

 

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121822.cfm