Photo was taken at Ennismore Retreat House, Montenotte, Cork (Irl)

A clump of berries stand out in lovely winter sunshine

Thought on Sunday – December – 01/12/2013

The following reflection is by Triona Doherty

‘To you, my God, I lift my soul’ – these are the very first words we hear this Advent, in the Entrance Antiphon of today’s Mass.

The word Advent comes from the Latin ‘adventus’, meaning ‘coming’. There is a sense of movement and anticipation. The tradition of the Advent calendar is one way to bring this movement to life. The Lord is coming. We are moving towards Christmas. We are lifting our souls towards God. And we are moving always towards the end times and the second coming, as Jesus himself reminds us in today’s Gospel.

A couple of questions we could reflect on today: Why do we need this ‘lead-in’ time to Christmas? What are my hopes and goals for Advent? Where do I want to be in my faith journey, come Christmas day? American baseball legend Yogi Berra once said: ‘If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.’ If we decide we want to get somewhere, we have to take steps to get there – for example, when we decide on a particular career path we have to undertake the right training and experience. Perhaps this Advent we would like to spend more time in prayer, to be more patient, or to get involved in our local community. What is the point of Advent, if we don’t end up somewhere different from where we started?

There is a sense of anticipation in today’s readings. Saint Paul tells us ‘the night is almost over, it will be daylight soon.’ We need to get moving.