First Sunday in Advent, 2013

Happy New Year!

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I find it wonderful that Holy Mother Church allows us a preview New Year's. It's a chance to get a jump on New Year's resolutions, to make them stick before the calendar turns over.

So, for today, I have read in the booklet given to us by our parish. I also have a few thoughts, based on having cantored for three Masses this weekend, and having heard the same things over and over again. I think this is part of God's plan for me-if He can't get a message through, I'll end up with extra Masses to attend.

1. Our first reading ends with the phrase "O house of Jacob come let us walk in the light of the Lord!" Based upon that in the light theme (not to say "leight motif" of Advent, I picked two songs related to light. Christ be our light and We Are Called. They both exhort the singer to seek God and to seek the light of His presence.  However, I was struck over and over again about how much of those songs is also about the externals. "We are called to act with Justice." "Make us your building, sheltering others, walls made of living stone." That, and the obvious economic justice messages and songs we sing each week, especially in the responsorial Psalms, fit well with the message released by the Holy Father this week. A message I need to read.

2. It was wonderful to hear such a high percentage of our congregation singing the mass parts in Latin at the three masses I did this weekend. I was especially pleased to see a young man who looked up the passages to make sure he could share the words with his girlfriend.

3. It is amazing how little time you actually have over a four-day Thanksgiving holiday. I assumed I would get a lot more done, have long visits with family here in Columbia, etc. Between the great visit from out-of-town relatives, spending time with our godson's family, and cleaning up plus food preparation, and all the music oreparation and singing, and let's not forget the football watching Saturday night, the weekend is over. I expect December to whiz by, but hope to keep up the discipline of reading each day and posting something about what God is showing me. 

4. The songs that kept entering my head as I heard the Word proclaimed this weekend included "I can't wait to see Jesus" by Pat Terry, and "I wish we'd all been ready" by Larry Norman.