Sermon Cloud

This weekend, you may notice that some familiar faces are not present ... some faces which have not been seen in this parish for some time are back ... and perhaps there are even some new faces among us. Welcome one and all!

This year, the season of Advent is cut short by a few days. It's only been just over three weeks since the Church began this time of preparation for the festival of Christmas, but at least in some of our homes and among our loved ones, plans have been made for months now about where we will spend the Christmas holidays, who we will spend them with, who among us has to work for at least a part of the Christmas season ...

For children and adults alike, this is a period of great expectations. Children are filled with wonder and awe as they await the arrival of Santa Claus, and adults are equally filled with joy and expectation about the possibility of seeing and spending time with those we love.

Even in biblical times, there was great excitement as God's people awaited the coming of the Messiah (Mi 5:2-5). Then as now, people of faith looked with hope to this promise and marvelled at the ways God worked in their lives. At the beginning of the visit recounted in today's gospel, Elizabeth shares with her younger kinswoman the wonder of her heart, "And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?" (Lk 1:43)

Perhaps in our own hearts, we too have asked the question, "why has the Messiah come to us?" If we are truly blessed, we recognize the grace of Christ who is present to us. All we can do is wonder at his infinite goodness as we benefit from the gifts he shares with us - the gift of family and friends, the gift of dreams fulfilled, the gift of loved ones who have shared their lives with us and who have returned to our God over this past year.

The second reading, from the letter to the Hebrews, reminds us that no amount of sacrifice or offering is as important as merely presenting ourselves before our God with open hearts, ready to do his will (Heb 10:9). But what does 'doing the will of God' mean?

The bishops of the world who participated in the Second Vatican Council, a meeting which took place in the early 1960's, encourage us to "make our own, the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the men and women of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted." (Gaudium et Spes, no. 1).

How can we actively participate in preparing our world for God's coming? Do we look for ways to promote peace, justice and solidarity so that all people can look forward with great expectations? If all people did just a little in promoting such a vision, the world might be a very different place - children would indeed leap in the wombs of their mothers (Lk 1:44).