Preparing with Joy

“the world can give you a superficial happiness from time to time but only God can give you shalom, this deep peace”

“Jesus represents in the wheel of fortune, listen now, that place of contact with God. Being grounded in the eternity of God which indeed is the same yesterday, today and forever. Which indeed doesn't change even as my fortunes change.”

“The grace unleashed by Our Lord’s sacrifice perfected our moral life, it elevated our nature, and it made possible eternal life with God”

“Our cities, our countries, our world is plagued by the violence of poverty and John the Baptist’s ethical preaching in Sunday’s Gospel shows us another way, one with salvific promise”

“baptism is much more than a sign of repentance, much more even that a simple forgiveness of sins...the love of God is poured into our hearts”

“can we find the time and inclination to ask Jesus, “What must I do?” by way of a spiritual preparation for his coming into our lives, of our coming into the life of the Kingdom of Jesus?”

“The Gospel demands nothing less than love in action”

“Something more than a prophet is arriving. And listen, something more than mere moral reform is being predicted and called for.”

“Repentance and conversion have to do with action. Our lives have gotten off the rails in different ways, we need to do certain things to get them back.”

“we can hope because God is in our midst now, exactly where there is suffering, to bring restoration and healing, or right relationship and restoration”

“Zephaniah reminds us that although we may think less of ourselves, God always thinks more of us. God is always excited to love us.”

“All friendship between human beings is a bodily friendship, an embodiment of God’s love”

“The peace and rejoicing we are called to this Advent is not a callous merriment that avoids the reality of suffering, but a divine peace that surpasses our understanding. It is a peace that is cultivated by our taking a first step, responding to God’s call to “prepare the way.””

“Many Advent/Christmas texts have nuptial themes, because the incarnation of Christ is the “wedding” of two natures, human and divine. God weds his nature to ours in Christ.”

“metanoia is a lifetime process. It is the process by which we are divinized–by which we change by change by change come to be like God in our capacity for Truth, Compassion, Fidelity, and relationship”

“I rejoice because through all the struggle, the uncertainty, the pain, and yes, the anxiety, I rejoice because it was through all this that God brought me closer to Him, where He revealed Himself to me”

“More than simply preparing us for Christmas, though, Advent also reminds us of the in-between situation we find ourselves in, after Christ’s first coming but awaiting his second coming”

“And so in every aspect of our lives, we must constantly be seeking God’s will, and striving to see things from another perspective”

“Without Christ we cannot enter into the joy which is the crowning of our salvation”

“We rejoice because of who we are in Jesus Christ...For Jesus comes to establish a new relationship between us and God”

“The joy of a Christian must be an authentic joy, a joy that goes all the way down — all the way down to the depths of sadness, indeed”

“Who will take God at his word? Who will come with us to be the bearers of this exhilarating hope?”

“John the Baptist is telling us that when we give to others, we give to ourselves as well, and we facilitate God’s kingdom”

“With Christ's spirit to fire us, we are called to face up to and to challenge as best we can the cruelty and injustice we see at home and abroad, while all the time acknowledging our own human vulnerability”

“Therefore, rejoice. The king is now in our midst and we have no more disaster to fear.”

“God is joy and the world is the outflowing, the outpouring of the divine joy”