It may seem odd that, just as the secular world begins to celebrate peace and joy during the holiday season, we are asked in this week’s Gospel to consider our sinfulness. The words of John the Baptist echo across the centuries: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Isn’t John’s talk about sin, God’s wrath, and the need for repentance a bit of a downer as we prepare for Christmas?

Hồi ấy, ông Gio-an Tẩy Giả đến rao giảng trong hoang địa miền Giu-đê rằng: "Anh em hãy sám hối, vì Nước Trời đã đến gần.

Cho nên anh em cũng vậy, anh em hãy sẵn sàng, vì chính giờ phút anh em không ngờ, thì Con Người sẽ đến.

Happy New Year! If this strikes you as a bit premature, it isn’t really because this Sunday marks the start of the new Church year. In the Catholic Church, the first Sunday of Advent is the beginning of the cycle of readings, holy days, and holidays for roughly the next 365 days. It’s also the time of year not only when we are called to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, but also when we are asked to examine our lives and take stock, spiritually speaking.

The Churches of St. Luke’s, Holy Angels and Annunciation will hold their Advent Penance Services according to the following schedule: Please click for more info:

The first-century Jews had very specific expectations concerning their coming messiah, the anointed king, about whom the prophets spoke. He would come in glory, vanquish the oppressors, and correct all the wrongs in the world. So we can imagine what they were thinking when a sign proclaiming “King of the Jews” is placed above the head of Jesus hanging on the cross. They laughed and sneered. This was not the king they expected. And yet, only a few years later, the Apostle Paul, who had rejected Jesus and his followers, would write that “every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord” (Phil 2:10-11).

Wars, famines, persecution, plagues, earthquakes, and signs falling from the skies are the warnings Jesus gives his listeners. How and when these times will come, only God knows. It is enough for Jesus to exhort his disciples — and all believers — to remember: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus proclaims that the Lord is “not God of the dead, but of the living” (Luke 20:38). This may seem obvious to us now, but Jesus’s words affirmed what we as Catholics believe about the Communion of the Saints. To be physically dead is not the same as being dead and annihilated. To be in God is to be alive forevermore.