A Sunday Thought About Second Chances Every Year to Start the Week Off Right
It's great when you tackle something fresh - new job, new year at school, home improvement project, etc. - and all goes well from the get-go. Sometimes though, things don't go our way. When that happens, it's great to get a second chance. Even in our relationships with parents, spouse, children, things sometimes go awry. If and when they do, a second chance let's us right things. As great blessings go in this life, second chances top my list.
On this first Sunday of Advent, we begin a new Liturgical Year. You may want to think of it as a second chance that comes every year. Despite all our imperfections, we get to start again. Holy Mother Church shows us the way this Holy Season by turning our minds and hearts to the coming of the Lord as we prepare for the joy of Christmas.
We recall so many centuries of waiting and watching, so many prophets reminding their people to prepare, to repent when they had sinned, to ready themselves for the coming of the Messiah. As the Jews were given their second chance over and over again throughout the Old Testament, so we will be given our second chance.
Talk about blessings! God, our Father, through the instrument of His Holy Catholic Church, extends His huge, warm, loving hand to us. With the help of His grace, we reach out to grasp it. He raises us up out of the mire of our daily sins and imperfections. He does this when we go to confession, of course, which we'll surely do this Advent Season, even if we haven't been to confession for a while. We want our hearts to be pure, a safe, inviting place to welcome the Baby Who comes to us on Christmas Day.
Take advantage of this, our annual second chance, this fresh beginning, an opportunity to start our lives anew just as the world was made new the moment Our Blessed Mother said "Yes" to the angel Gabriel and Our Blessed Lord was conceived in her womb, to be made manifest on that first Christmas Day.
We've all been given a second chance, a new start on this first day of the Church's New Year, the beginning of the Holy Season of Advent. Prepare in a spirit of penance. Get ready for the coming of your Redeemer, your Savior, your new life in the graces that flooded this weary world on that great day of His Incarnation, and His birth on Christmas morning. And don't let the wonder of this second chance be lost in the busy swirl of your daily life during Advent. To help us recollect our minds and hearts, take a moment to listen to our traditional hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. It will help us get "in the mood" of Advent, the perfect antidote for the avalanche of "holiday music" that will likely, at times, assault us during the coming weeks.
On this first Sunday of Advent, we begin a new Liturgical Year. You may want to think of it as a second chance that comes every year. Despite all our imperfections, we get to start again. Holy Mother Church shows us the way this Holy Season by turning our minds and hearts to the coming of the Lord as we prepare for the joy of Christmas.
We recall so many centuries of waiting and watching, so many prophets reminding their people to prepare, to repent when they had sinned, to ready themselves for the coming of the Messiah. As the Jews were given their second chance over and over again throughout the Old Testament, so we will be given our second chance.
Talk about blessings! God, our Father, through the instrument of His Holy Catholic Church, extends His huge, warm, loving hand to us. With the help of His grace, we reach out to grasp it. He raises us up out of the mire of our daily sins and imperfections. He does this when we go to confession, of course, which we'll surely do this Advent Season, even if we haven't been to confession for a while. We want our hearts to be pure, a safe, inviting place to welcome the Baby Who comes to us on Christmas Day.
Take advantage of this, our annual second chance, this fresh beginning, an opportunity to start our lives anew just as the world was made new the moment Our Blessed Mother said "Yes" to the angel Gabriel and Our Blessed Lord was conceived in her womb, to be made manifest on that first Christmas Day.
We've all been given a second chance, a new start on this first day of the Church's New Year, the beginning of the Holy Season of Advent. Prepare in a spirit of penance. Get ready for the coming of your Redeemer, your Savior, your new life in the graces that flooded this weary world on that great day of His Incarnation, and His birth on Christmas morning. And don't let the wonder of this second chance be lost in the busy swirl of your daily life during Advent. To help us recollect our minds and hearts, take a moment to listen to our traditional hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. It will help us get "in the mood" of Advent, the perfect antidote for the avalanche of "holiday music" that will likely, at times, assault us during the coming weeks.
Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts.
Comments