From the Pastor - Second Sunday of Advent
From the Pastor – Second Sunday of Advent
We serve a merciful and patient God. In His kindness, He warns us that we will be called to make an account one day for the way in which we made use of the gifts He has given us.
The most precious gift He has given us is His own Son, Whose birth we are preparing to celebrate.
St. Peter describes the loving kindness of the Father in our Second Reading today, saying God “is patient with you, not wishing that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Yet, in the same passage we receive this warning: “The Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar... and the earth and everything on it will be found out.”
How are we to assimilate these two truths — the merciful love of God and the responsibility that comes with the privilege of living as His disciple? St. Peter tells us we should conduct ourselves “in holiness and devotion.” Indeed, this is the goal of our Advent “reset” — to return to living lives focused on Christ, in gratitude for all He has done for us.
In our Gospel passage from Mark, John the Baptist instructs us to “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” We must make good use of the gift of time we have been given this Advent season. Let’s be sure to get to Confession, prioritize a daily reading the of Scriptures, and reach out to someone in need with a word of comfort or an act of service.
In this way, we will honor both the mercy and justice of our God, and we will be prepared to celebrate the birth of Christ and give account for all His gifts to us.
Pastoral Pondering
In recent weeks I have had a number of people ask me about the so-called Great Reset and how we as Catholics should respond to it. It has certainly gotten traction in some quarters and is also often connected with various globalist conspiracy theories. The project itself is very real and involves some of the wealthiest and most powerful power brokers around the world. It’s focus is on creating a world economy that makes national borders and values a thing of the past while providing an economic equalizing among the human population.
The danger of course, as has been seen with the formation of the European Union, is that when power and authority are invested in levels far-removed from the local situation, dire consequences can result. The Church has consistently proclaimed the importance of subsidiarity, handling issues at the lowest level possible. At the same time, the Church recognizes the importance of caring for the poor and needy. Again, while the Church has advocated for government action in this regard, these matters are still best handled at a local level with support from higher levels as needed.
The founding principles upon which the US was founded recognized the importance of local autonomy. And while this has been eroded since the Wilson administration early in the last century, it is still enshrined in the founding documents. As Catholics we should always seek to build up the common good and care for the least among us. At the same time, it is perfectly consistent with Catholic teaching to support local autonomy in the formation of national well-being. This is especially true in the family which is the basic building block of society.