Happy Advent Everybody!
This is such a beautiful and meaningful time of the year—the Season of Waiting. Our hearts are waiting for the Lord, reconnecting with the beginning of His life on earth. Our minds long to follow the story of Mary and Joseph finding a quiet place to welcome the Prince of Peace. Our desire is to step away from ordinary routines and recommit our lives to Emmanuel, God with us!
~ Advent Reflections for This Day (Sunrise Press, 2023)
The First Week of Advent is centered on HOPE. What gets in the way of experiencing the quiet peace of hope that we long for in our waiting? Is it work, family, schedules, worries, commitments, sadness, exhaustion? At times, we can't seem to muster the energy to receive and trust in the promise of HOPE. Jesus warns us to beware of succumbing to the anxieties of life. Anxiety will most definitely come to every one of us, and it can cause us to feel hopeless.
The Good News is that it's not up to us to generate hope in our lives!
Hope comes from the Prince of Peace!
Jesus is the Prince of Peace. That is why He came into the world as a baby, not a warrior king. God wanted us to meet Him in that tender, vulnerable state of humanity. In a baby, we see a new life with infinite possibilities and a lifetime of promise in the future. We see HOPE!
It can be challenging to hold on to that beautiful truth when we hear the frightening words of the Gospel Reading for this First Sunday of Advent. The passage begins with a warning about the signs in the sun, moon, stars, and the sea. The second sentence is enough to make us want to give up on HOPE.
"People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken."
But we have to keep going to get the full message.
"And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." ~ Luke 21:26-27
The definition of HOPE is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Do we believe that Jesus is the Son of Man? Then, we have to trust that He holds great power over all of creation and brings great glory. That is the space where we live in HOPE.
Ten verses later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells us:
"Be vigilant at all times and pray." ~ Luke 21:36
Pope Francis said, "Hope is a gift and a task for every Christian. It is a gift because it is God who offers it to us. Hope is nurtured by prayer. Prayer preserves and renews hope and helps fan the spark of hope into flame." So, we must pray continually throughout the day to receive HOPE from Him. Then, when others seem to have lost hope, we share the Good News with them! At last year's World Youth Day, Pope Francis announced that the theme for the 2025 Jubilee of Young People would be Pilgrims of Hope. He said, "Praying is like climbing to a mountaintop: from the ground, the sun can be hidden by clouds, but once we climb beyond them, its light and warmth envelop us. We see once more that the sun is always there, even when everything around us seems dark and dreary."

So, each day in this First Week of Advent, regardless of what dark, dreary, or stressful challenges linger over us, let us light one candle of HOPE and pray to grow in the strength of renewed hope in our Advent waiting. We will not die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world. No, let all the world know that we wait in joyful HOPE for what has already been given to us: Salvation in the eternal and infinite love of God made known by the Prince of Peace!
“ hope springs eternal “ Ephesians 2:11-21. Prayer brings on hope. Making life worth living having hope in our savior brings meaning to one’s life. Thanks Monica for the read.
Praise God for those reflective thoughts as we move into the Advent journey ! Very much in keeping with our current book study “33 days to to Eucharistic Glory”…….. “Pilgrims of Hope” as you noted per Pope Francis…… not tourists !