Third Sunday of Advent

December 17, 2023

Let us pray for courage this Advent. May we not resist God’s invitation to pray always and never lose heart. May we not resist the suffering of our neighbor or ignore our call to justice in our world.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for the end of war, mass shootings, and all destruction.  May our aching hearts and unresolved faith discover new hope as we serve survivors of injustice. May Advent truly bring the Prince of Peace.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for hope in this Advent. May we never tire to lift up our souls to God’s grace no matter our pain, our scars, our weariness. May hope flood our soul in this holy season.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for the brokenhearted. May we be attentive to people whose hearts are broken from divorce or job loss. May those wearied by family violence find the merciful presence of our long-awaited Savior.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for children in this Advent season. May our youth who suffer from depression and loneliness find healing miracles in God’s grace. May we serve our young without measure.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who live behind bars and those who await trials. May prisoners find release and hope for their future. May all people live in God’s freedom.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to bring glad tidings to God’s beloved poor. May we act with courage to bring housing to the houseless and food to people without resources. May we work for justice and pray without ceasing for the real needs of people.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people lost among the margins of our world. May people suffering mental anguish and those who cannot make ends meet be brought into the merciful justice of God. May we not blame people for their suffering or their poverty.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our elderly poor. May our aging brothers and sisters without health insurance find resources to survive illness and disease. May we listen to the lonely and console the terminally ill.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our beloved dead. May hope spring up in our hearts for our loved ones now resting in the richness of heaven. May eternity bring us solace on earth for people we have loved.

We pray to the Lord.

CLICK HERE to read today’s scriptures

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Second Sunday of Advent

December 10, 2023

Let us pray to seek the Kingdom of God like John the Baptist. May our eyes weep for people ravaged by war, violence and destruction. May we strive for lands of justice and lives of peace. May love flourish upon the earth.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to carry the burdens of people abused by systems and institutions. May justice flourish in our workplaces and care be given to people who have offered their lives to serve others.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to shout out our convictions of love. May our earth benefit from our common cry to create clean oceans, lakes, forests and city streets. May our hearts overflow with hope for our children’s future.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to rouse deep hope in our earthly relationships this Advent season. May reconciliation become food at family tables, at church gatherings and in corporate headquarters. May integrity become nourishment for all people.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our loved ones in nursing homes, recovery centers and in hospitals. May our lives heal in the midst of illness, recovery and long-term need. May hope be lived on earth.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to raise awareness about people lost on the margins of life. May our hearts be open to helping people ravaged by poverty, mental illness, and homelessness. May we pray for every human need in this Advent.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to uncover genuine desire for God in this Advent season. May our hearts be set ablaze in our search for hope, justice and right-living. May we not fear the desires of our hearts or overlook God’s love within us.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to ease the despair of our children. May our next generation know the comfort of Christ Jesus in every aspect of life. May our communities support the lives, education and faith of young people.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our loved ones who have died. May we reach out to people who grieve and pray for our loved ones who now see the face of Christ Jesus.

We pray to the Lord.

“Under the Roof of Heaven” is published in Give Us This Day, December 2023 issue, by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN.

Under the Roof of Heaven

Soon after the latest translation of the Mass was implemented in 2011, a parishioner approached me as he wiped tears away. He had read the new before-communion prayer text about our unworthiness to have Jesus enter under our roof. Eyes glistening, he looked at me and said, “I can’t receive Jesus because I live outside, I don’t have a roof.”   

        I recall his face and hear his voice when I read the centurion’s encounter with Jesus in today’s Gospel. The image of the roof is far broader than wooden beams and shingles. The human heart becomes the protective place where Jesus dwells.  

     Advent reveals the places of injustice or injury, of pain or persecution, as we wake from our slumber and prepare for Christ’s coming. Advent releases despair and opens our hearts to welcome Jesus Christ—today, tomorrow, every day of our lives. The centurion understood that Jesus could heal his servant, and we must model such conviction. He realized, even in his unworthiness, that he must surrender to Jesus’ mercy and compassion. Jesus waits for our surrender.

        We celebrate Advent under the roof of heaven. Advent hope transforms the metal of weapons into tools of good works, changing the course of injustice. Advent carves courage within ailing souls and lonely hearts. Advent wipes away tears. Advent prepares us to live the light of heaven amid darkened human nature here on earth.

     Jesus longs to heal us no matter where we rest at night, no matter the obstacles of our unruly perceptions, no matter the shelter we call home.

        Fr. Ronald Patrick Raab

Fr. Ronald Patrick Raab, CSC, serves as Religious Superior at Holy Cross House, a medical and retirement facility at Notre Dame, IN.  He is a retreat director, award-winning author, and visual artist. Learn more at ronaldraab.com.

CLICK here to read today’s scriptures

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Mothering AIDS: Snippets from my encounters and conversations with mothers who stood by the suffering of their sons in the complexities of AIDS in the first twenty years of my priesthood. I wrote this poem in 2017 as the first in a series. 

 At the Screen Door

We meet at the dirty screen door

Her face in shadow

Her fragile hand reaches for the loose doorknob from the inside

She seems taller because I stand a step down on the front porch

Sweat dripping down my back from the summer sun and

Nerves because another mother

Invites me over the threshold to sit aside a son’s deathbed

Still desiring the best for him

The priest’s last call

The pills exhausted and the chemo done

The oil is on the thumb of the man who

Opens the door to heaven within her heart at least

From her whispering invitation I slowly

Creep the narrow bedroom path amid silent machines

Strangers in this quiet room creating more fear than remedy

I open up my prayers and my heart in the darkened space

His empty eyes look through me

I sing a lullaby of faith

My heart resting in his

Connecting his silence and his song of unspoken truth

Feeling the eternal shore wash up against his bed

I touch him

Laying my hand on his forehead bearing open sores

With oil and prayer deeper than the silence

Blessing him in his fear that I will condemn him

More distracting than the pain beating against his breath

His worry that no holy man would touch his truth

The real man

His mother and I give him away and birth him again

We amble back to the threshold

She tells me I am the only person to touch her dying son

She rests those grateful words and her face on my chest

Then pushes open the worn out screen door

Toward the warm light

This image of Saint Andrew was first published in AIM Magazine, World Library, Chicago, Illinois, 2018.

Saint Andrew died on the cross, tilted into an X. He is the patron of rope makers, he left his net to follow Christ. He is illuminated by the story of Christ Jesus. His eyes fell upon the Master. His life reveals to us the story of Jesus within the gospels. The sea was his home but that was nothing compared to the eternal shore of heaven. The lily reveals his glory with God and his hope for us who remain on earth.

Saint Andrew, Pray for us.

First Sunday of Advent

December 3, 2023

For a new awakening among leaders of faith. May we wipe the sleep from our eyes to see the hungry, the lost, the homeless, and the weary. May Advent bring us joy in praying and serving.

We pray to the Lord.

For people who wait in darkness. May the grief-stricken find consolation and the lonely discover a new heart of peace.

We pray to the Lord.

For people torn apart in war. May every country find peace in this new season of grace. May orphans and widows entrust their lives to our support and care. May we be embraced in God’s love to end all violence.

We pray to the Lord.

For families in this Advent season. May we be awake in our care for one another. May we listen attentively to the quiet voices of loved ones who feel they do not belong in family life.

We pray to the Lord.

For a new hope among migrants. May people discover lands of peace where they can raise children and sustain employment. May hope fill the hearts of people who search for home.

We pray to the Lord.

For a new awareness of our neighbors. May Advent bring us new eyes to see the dignity and worth of people who suffer on the streets, for people nestled in nursing homes, for our children who have been abused.

We pray to the Lord.

For the release of all hostages and the freedom of every person. May Advent open new doors to our well-being and hope for people who ache for new life.

We pray to the Lord.

For people who are ill and in need of healing. May the lives and hearts of our loved ones be freed from sickness, disease and heartache. May Advent hope be made real in people who are in anguish.

We pray to the Lord.

For our beloved dead this Advent. May our faithful loved ones now find home in the face of Christ Jesus.

We pray to the Lord.

CLICK HERE to read today’s scriptures

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO today’s reflection

Thanksgiving Day 2023

Reflection based on Luke 17:11-19

Help me turn to you with tears of gratefulness

The cleansed leper understood how his pain separated him from himself and people he loved. The recipient of healing turned to Jesus with tears of unbounded gratitude. The encounter with Jesus freed him.

I beg God for such unalterable joy because I/we:

Look back with blinders. I see hollow choices and bad decisions. From such myopia, I view how I wish life would have been.  Help me turn to you, to reframe what has happened in the past.  

Weave illusive stories.  As I gaze over my shoulder, I continue to tell stories that made me look good, even at the expensive of others. Help me gaze into your eyes, the only story of gratitude that is real.

Thrive on my unkind words. My words still compare and condemn. Words pierce like arrows and harshness becomes a sling hurling rock. Help me turn with words that set me free, words from our prayerful encounters.

Build a home with regret. Shame protects me like a stack of bricks. That house of darkness does not have windows. Let me bask in the light of your presence, the ways in which you desire to heal me.

Cling to what should be. Help me surrender to your desire for me. Help me turn back to you and not into my own mirror. In you, I find full-faced gratitude and inner joy.

Feast only on bitter remarks. Help me turn to you with praise and thanks ever upon my lips. Help me sit down at altar tables with others who share such a feast of love.  

Amen