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First Sunday of Advent, November 28, 2004
• Scripture Readings:
Isa. 2: 1-5 • Rom. 13: 11-14 • Matt 24:37-44
• Advent Homily: "The
Meaning of Advent: Waiting for Jesus" by Rev. Jeffrey Lawrence
| When I was a kid, my friends and I used to spend countless hours playing
make believe. We played school; some kids were the teachers, others were
the pupils. We played house. We played cowboys and Indians. Our bicycles
and wagons became long freight trains and trucks and fancy cars. We played
circus. We had pretend battles, and all of us were soldiers. Some kids
even played church and Mass. ...
• "The
Helpful Tension of Advent Expectation" by Carl E. Olson |
During Advent, guided by the liturgy, we look back to when God came into
the world at the Incarnation. We also look forward in time to the Parousia,
the final coming of the God-man when He will judge the living and the
dead, and the world as we know it will pass away. And, in between these
two cosmic events, we come face-to-face with ourselves, examining our
hearts and preparing them for the celebration of the great feast of Christmas.
...
• Advent Reflection: "Mary’s
Gift of Self Points the Way" by Carl E. Olson | An advent
is a coming; it literally means "to come to." The season of
Advent anticipates the coming–or comings–of the Son: in his
Incarnation two thousand years ago, in his future return in glory, and
in the mystery of the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. ...
• "Baking with Children",
an excerpt from A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz
| Advent is a wonderful time to bake with
children. It’s not just that it is fun—though it is fun. This
baking picks up the themes of Advent: the preparing of gifts for others,
to make them happy, and the waiting for Christmas before eating the good
things we prepare. ...
• "The Advent Wreath",
an excerpt from Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany in the Domestic Church by by Peter & Catherine Fournier
| Every season of Advent is a new
reminder of the promise of eternity. (CCC 1020 - 1029) Thus, Advent wreaths are made of evergreens
to symbolize God's "everlastingness" and our immortality. (Purple is the liturgical color for Advent,
green in the wreath symbolizes hope and new life.) Four candles--three purple or violet that represent
penance, sorrow, and longing expectation and one rose or pink that represents the hope and coming joy--are
used to represent the four weeks of Advent. ...
• Selected
Ignatius Press books and music for Advent and Christmas. Books
for the entire family, including Fiona French's beautifully illustrated
Bethlehem, books by theologian John Saward, and classic Catholic Christmas
carols. ...
The page for the second week of Advent is here.
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Dogma And Preaching: Applying Christian Doctrine to
Daily Life (2nd Ed)
by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
This volume is an unabridged edition of Dogma and Preaching, a work that appeared in a much-reduced form in English, in 1985. The new book contains twice as much material as first
English edition. "Dogma", for many people, is a bad word. For the well-informed believer, it shouldn't be. Dogmas are truths revealed by God, which should enlighten the minds,
guide the choices, and gladden the hearts of Jesus' disciples, including pastors, deacons, and lay teachers. But, as Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), notes in the foreword
to this book, "The path from dogma to proclamation or preaching has become very troublesome." Finding ways to relate the content of the Church's dogmas to everyday life can be
challenging for today's preachers and teachers. Some people find the task so daunting that they leave dogma out. As a result, they wind up presenting something other than the
Church's faith and speak in their own name, offering perhaps unwittingly merely their own, subjective ideas, rather than the Word of God. In Dogma and Preaching, the theologian
and priest Joseph Ratzinger provides (1) a theory of preaching for today; (2) application of this theory to some themes for preaching drawn from the Church's dogmas; (3) meditations
and sermons based on the liturgical year and the communion of saints; and (4) some thoughts regarding the decade after the Second Vatican and Christianity's seeming irrelevance.
Ratzinger insists that sound preaching should rest on three pillars... Read more!
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