These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot ; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: “The LORD our justice.” (Jer 13:14-16)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112821.cfm
We begin the liturgical year preparing for the coming of the Lord (His Advent—his coming toward us). The longing for Emmanuel (God with us) is expressed so beautifully in the great Advent hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Lk 21:34-36)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112721.cfm
We reach the end of the liturgical year. Tomorrow is the First Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year in grace. To watch and pray, awaiting our Lord’s return is the challenge of daily Christian life. And while we wait, to keep our hands busy feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, visiting the imprisoned, caring for the sick.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Lk 21:29-33)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112621.cfm
Black Friday is upon us! We also have Black Friday here in Colombia even though we don’t have Thanksgiving Day the day before. Perhaps, as the retail world celebrates the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, we need to stay focused on the things that matter, the things that don't pass away: faith, family and friends. Faith reminds us that we find God in the poor and needy. Family calls us to spend quality time with those who put up with us no matter what. Friendship extends our family infinitely to embrace the whole world.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” (Lk 17:11-19)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112521-thanksgiving.cfm
For many folks Thanksgiving Day marks the beginning of the Christmas Season. My mother loved Thanksgiving and Christmas. She always began the season by watching Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory with Geraldine Page.
Then Daniel was brought into the presence of the king.
The king asked him, “Are you the Daniel, the Jewish exile,
whom my father, the king, brought from Judah? (Dn 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112421.cfm
Growing up in the Baptist church we were told: Dare to be a Daniel. The story of Daniel, like like the stories from the Books of Maccabees, urges us to be faithful to God and to the traditions we have received. The Vietnamese martyrs, Saint Andrew and his companions (1625-1886), were faithful even unto death.
