Daily Reflection Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

Our liturgical season of Advent begins as the cold weather sets in and we experience darkness earlier each day. Wow! What a way to anticipate the celebration of the birth of our Savior! Yet, we know and experience the darkness and the coldness in our own lives: emotional depression, quarrels in families, personal criticisms through social media. In spite of all these negative vibes, our liturgical readings invite us to hope. 

    We were given the virtue of hope in Baptism, so we have this virtue within us. The late Archbishop Luis Martinez told us, “Through the theological virtue of hope we tend toward God, our end, our good, our happiness. And we tend toward him not with the uncertainty and inconstancy of human hope but with the unshakable support of his loving strength.” Perhaps, we could read through the darkness of a late autumn Advent and reflect on what brings darkness to our own hearts. Discouragement can so easily usurp our hope. In today’s gospel Jesus’ disciples show distress because they don’t have enough food for the crowd of people. Ever the problem solver, Jesus offers the suggestion of gathering food from the crowd, which he then blesses.  When the disciples realize that there is enough and then some for all to eat, they have deepened their hope in Jesus as their Messiah. As they continue their relationship with Jesus, they are enlivened with the hope that he gives them.

    In today’s first reading, Isaiah counsels us that the Lord of hosts will destroy the veil that separates people. Whether we are confronted with the need for reconciliation among family members, a healthy introspection that connects us more deeply with God, or a universal vision that understands poverty, we have a God who cares about us and will lead us in the right direction. Isaiah’s Advent readings are filled with hope. No matter how dark are our lives or our social environment, God needs our cooperation to give the world hope.

    I suggest that we each take ten or fifteen minutes today to reflect on part of our responsorial Psalm 23. Even though I walk through the darkest valley…

As darkness comes on, the shepherd must fulfill the task of providing the sheep with safety and assure that they will arrive back to the sheepfold unharmed. God does the same for us. Scripture speaks of descending into the hell of the human condition: deep crises, grave danger, fierce persecution, humiliation, exclusion, or devastating solitude. Many times in life we have experienced these conditions. The darkness of late autumn and Advent remind us that we are not alone. God is perpetually within us; we have people who support us. We have God who shepherds us through our darkest times. We then offer hope to those who are sitting in darkness.

Listen to Hold on to Hope by Jason Gray