ADVENT: Sunday I - year C

Jeremiah 33:14-16

Psalm 25:4-5,8-9,10,14

1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2

Luke 21:25-28,34-36  

The hope of a new beginning allows us, or asks us, to take a close look at our lives each day. The prophet Jeremiah promises a new beginning, but it will not be an escape from the things that challenge us. In the new time, our text reads. 'the days are coming ... when promises will be fulfilled.1 We now from the preaching of the prophet that in the new time honesty and integrity must be practiced. God will be the ultimate standard informing the integrity of the people. For the people the new time will be a saving experience.

Psalm 25, a psalm which tells of the devout person's relationship with God, is our response. It expresses trust in God: "To you, 0 Lord, I lift my soul" (vs. 1). It speaks of the paths of the Lord as paths of faithfulness and love. These paths of righteousness and truth are identified with the paths of the Lord himself. The selected verses of our response speak to God. Verses 4 and 5 ask for God's guidance. God's mercy toward sinners is acknowledged in verse 8, and in verse 9 the sincere seeker of truth acknowledges God's justice or holiness.

Instruction from God is sought as a gift of salvation. Psalm 25 sees clearly that the law of the Lord, his instruction to those who reverence him, is part of God's saving work of bringing salvation to his people. This prayer acknowledges the need for God's guidance/teaching. This psalm taught Israel to seek grace and salvation in the torah--the law. It teaches us, the Church, to pray for the Spirit to bring our lives not only the power and mercy of God, but an appreciation of the ways God teaches us.

With the coming of Jesus, God with us, God present in our midst, will be our teacher.

Another thought:

We not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second will bring a crown of a divine kingdom... His first coming was to fulfill his plan of love, to teach [us] by gentle persuasion. This time whether [we) like it or not, [we] will be subjects of his kingdom by necessity ... Our Lord Jesus Christ will therefore come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new. -- St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Advent in the Prophets and the Psalms
Rev. Charles Yost, scj
Nesbit, MS