Dear brothers and sisters, in the second and the third Sunday of Advent, the gospel talks about John the Baptist two times in row, calling us to prepare our heart, to make a straight way for the Lord.
A Christmas quip goes: “Don’t get so preoccupied in what the world has to sell that you miss what God has to give."
In the Gospel according to St Luke, we listen to the voice of the one (John the Baptist) crying out in the wilderness and calling us to prepare the way of the Lord.
As we begin the season of Advent, I’m sure we are looking forward to many warm and congenial gatherings with colleagues, family and friends.
One of the pre-Christmas gatherings we always enjoy here at the SVD Marsfield community is the shared lunch with the staff and our SVD seniors. We are blessed to have the presence of these retired missionaries in our midst and it is always interesting to hear their stories from the past as well as their current plans and activities.
In Australia and New Zealand, we are familiar with the presence of people on TV using sign language. When an important announcement is made, the speaker is accompanied by an interpreter who uses sign language to speak to the deaf audience.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent. Today's Gospel invites us to concentrate on the figure of Mother Mary.
How many of us whenever Christmas comes around, can’t wait to open up our gifts? Whenever somebody hands us a gift, we try to shake it, press on it to feel what could this be.\
“You can’t spell adventure, unless you begin with Advent.” Here we go, it is the second Sunday of our Advent journey/advent-ure. Hopefully, it is not just another Advent, in fact, it is a grace-filled season of preparation.
It’s now the start of another liturgical year. This year is Year B, meaning that most of the gospel readings for Sundays will come from the Gospel according to Mark and also a good number of Sundays will be coming from the Gospel according to John.
We are about to begin the season of Advent, a time of waiting and preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ, both in the manger at Bethlehem and his second coming at the end of time.
As we look around our world at the serious situations of conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine and various other places, we know that we are more in need than ever of the coming of the Prince of Peace at Christmas.
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