Advent Week Four

 Wow, it's hard to believe that this Sunday (Dec 20) is the last Sunday of Advent. Time always seems to have just flown by when we look backwards and seems to be a long way off when we look forward. Our Church, in its wisdom, has given us these four weeks each year prior to Christmas Day to spend in formation for a new experience of the first coming of Jesus Christ and preparation for the second. To assist in us that journey we celebrate and meditate and allow ourselves to be converted by four different "themes" - four ways to experience and prepare for living life to the full here on earth and look ahead with confident expectation that God will fulfill his promises. Here's a quick refresher for you of those four:

• We begin with HOPE! This Advent journey is one of hope - not mere optimism or wishful thinking. Hope, as we contemplate it, is a theological virtue along with faith and charity (love). Our Catechism defines this virtue as the "way we desire and expect from God both eternal life and the grace we need to attain it". (1817) During these weeks has your confidence in God's promises increased? Has your awareness of the free gift of Grace been strengthened?     
• On the second Sunday we celebrate the theological virtue of FAITH. As the Letter to the Hebrews states; "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen". (Heb 11:1) Have you a stronger realization today that your truest hope (eternal life) will be granted by God? Have you found evidence of God's constant presence in your life? 
• JOY! - A fruit of the Holy Spirit and a promise of Jesus Christ who said "I have told you these things that my JOY might be in you and your JOY might be complete (!)" (Jn 15:11) Complete joy - what a gift from the One who loves us best. Joy is a disposition that flows from the realization that God is in control and that, in the end, all is well. True and complete joy can overcome the anxieties, stress and tensions of the day. True joy does not depend on everything going right and going our way. True joy comes from our living out the Gifts of the Spirit and trusting in our Triune God.
• And this weekend we concentrate on PEACE. Oftentimes, we think of peace as the absence of war or conflict in the world or in our own lives. But true peace is a state of being that doesn't rely on exterior conditions do be practiced. True peace is what the Jewish people called Shalom. Jesus said "Peace I leave you, my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid." (Jn 14:27) Peace, too, is a fruit of the Spirit and needs to be lived as Jesus taught in the Beatitudes "Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called children of God." The only way we become peacemakers is to make sure we are at peace ourselves - we can't give what we don't have. 

There you have it - the four attitudes that can assist us in a true celebration of the first coming of Jesus Christ. Living out of the wellspring of Hope, Faith, Joy and Peace is also the best way to notice Jesus' presence in our lives today and to prepare for his coming in glory.

Advent Peace to all of you!

Deacon John