Fourth Sunday of Advent 2021: Bulletin Column on Luke 1:39-45, Cover Art

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Dear Followers of the Messiah,

The prayer texts and scriptures for the Fourth Sunday of Advent take a dramatic turn. The great prophets of Isaiah and John the Baptist, who have been heralding a message of repentance and hope, are now silenced. We turn away from our preparation for the second coming of the Messiah at the end of time. Our attention now focuses on the birth of Jesus. This Fourth Sunday calms our souls and steadies our faith for it takes us back to the human longing for love and peace. Today’s gospel is charming and exquisite in its tenderness for the coming of Jesus to be born among us, to become the Word-Made-Flesh. 

Today in Luke 1:39-45 we hear the simple story of Mary journeying to visit her cousin Elizabeth. There is such rejoicing between the two pregnant women. The rejoicing did not stop with the two adults for we hear that the infant in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy. This child of course is John, who will be called The Baptist. This gospel in the fourth week takes us back to the beginning of Advent when we heard about John as an adult calling us all to repentance and forgiveness. Today we ponder such beauty of a child and all his potential. 

This gospel forms our Fourth Week of Advent. I pray that we may sink our hearts into this story and find the joy and wonder of Jesus resting in our hearts and relationships. We are called in this great feast of Christmas to sort through our exhaustion, fear, and uncertainties to find joy again. Our joy fills the empty spaces of our lives if we take the time to sit in silence, to reflect and pray. Within Christmas, we are called to discover such hope among our bewilderment, peace among the obstacles that keep us apart, and love even among our fragile relationships. 

The four weeks of Advent challenge us to recognize Christ in the deepest and darkest places of our human lives. This year, most especially, we behold a child to be our hope amid the ongoing pandemic, our job loss, our misunderstanding about vaccines and questions about our children’s safety and future. We center on the child Jesus to become in our day a radical reminder that powerlessness will be the place of grace, hope and healing. We are called into becoming humble and wise so that we may discover the miracles of life and the forgiveness and mercy for which we all long. 

I pray that you may discover joy in your heart as you celebrate Jesus on Christmas Day. I pray as you feed an aging parent in a nursing home, that you might be grateful for all that has been in your life. I pray as you hold a newborn in the family, that you may come to a new awareness of miracle and love. I pray as you listen to your teen fidget about what to do with his future, that you may welcome all the possibilities of his talent. I pray as you enter the silence of your own life, that you may know the incredible love Jesus has for you, a love that only God can offer. I pray that loneliness may give way to union in God, and that misunderstandings may be forgiven and wiped away in the tenderness of Jesus’ birth. 

Thank you all for your creative efforts to build our three communities of worship. Thank you so much for your desire to pray, to serve and to speak out for others in need. Thank you for educating your children here and worshipping in good times and in bad. Thank you for all of your spiritual and financial support. Peace to all who enter our churches this week to find the new places in which Jesus is born.

Merry Christmas!

God give you peace,

Fr. Ron Raab, CSC, Pastor

Third Sunday of Advent 2021: Column on Luke 3:10-18, Cover Art

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Dear Believers in Miracles,

John the Baptist is back in action this week in Luke 3:10-18. On this Third Sunday of Advent, John is in the desert to baptize. John is very clear about how to prepare for the Savior. Whoever has two cloaks should give one to a person who has none. Whoever is collecting more than the required amount of taxes should cut it out. We should not practice extortion and we should not falsely accuse anyone. We should be satisfied with our wage. I love the fact that John calls people into direct service as we wait for our own salvation. Salvation rests in how we treat one another. This message is often far from our daily lives. John rocks this message of hope! 

Remember that Luke, as a gospel writer, always speaks on behalf of the poor. John is in the thick of things as he admits that he is not worthy to loosen the thongs of his cousin’s sandals. He prepares us with unbelievable images of salvation and the clearing of sin and division in the world. John has a strong and vigorous voice in his longing for mercy and forgiveness by God. Luke puts into the mouth of John these incredible words of justice for people on earth. This is the real preparation for Christmas, that all people shall inherit the dignity of their lives and that all people shall live in harmony on this planet that is also in need of God’s help. 

This Third Week of Advent has traditionally been called, “Gaudete Sunday.” This means that we are more than halfway to Christmas and our lives and hearts are called to rejoice!

Rejoice! John is longing for this promise in the middle of the hot desert. He understands that Jesus, through his presence and ministry, becomes the revelation of salvation. Rejoicing is key to our lives as we enter such a mystery. We are almost there, but not yet. However, we understand that what we wait for is the coming of the Kingdom in the end of time. We wait for more than the baby since we already did that many years ago. Salvation is in our hearts waiting to bear fruit in our day and age. 

The reading from Philippians 4:4-7 gives us this message of hope. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near….” I hope that we all hear that God’s presence and his gift of redemption are truly for us even when we think we are knee deep in the weeds. We are called to rely on God even when our marriages are on the rocks and our children don’t seem to care about us anymore. We are called to fill our hearts with gratitude even on the days when we don’t get our way or when the Church is filled with controversy and darkness. Rejoicing seems dim after all we have been through in these past two years. Yet, rejoicing comes to us when we give over our very lives to God in Advent. There is nothing that stands in the way of such beauty, grace, and love as God’s desire to heal and guide our lives. 

John boldly expresses that Jesus’ winnowing fan will clear the threshing floor. John tells us that there is nothing in our hearts that will not be made clean and refreshed. I thank God for John’s voice in our lives. I thank God for all of you, who believe in such miracles. 

God give you peace,

Fr. Ron Raab, CSC, Pastor