Reflection for Fourth Sunday of Advent Year A 2022

   This is arguably one of the most Stressful -filled weeks of the year. The time is usually filled with parties and last minute gifts buying, amid of crowded frazzle of shoppers. That is, if you are lucky. For there are those who do not have the means to make a Christmas filled with wrapped presents for their families. I am talking about the poor, who often view the shopping crunch not as an annoyance, but a standing disappointments. But even these poor, struggling to make ends meet, are happy in comparison with the lonely and outcast, who have no one at all with whom to celebrate the season. This month is probably the most depressing month of the year for many of them.
          Through the eyes of faith we will even discover the success in every failure. Our faith provides a respite from all our stresses, and we are able to find hope in our moments of despair.
            In this moment of hope, we often have a simply plow ahead with little sense of the overall coherence of our actions. We do not have the luxury of comparing the landmarks of our lives with any printed map. Understanding usually comes from hindsight. We live our lives forward, but we understand them backwards. If we reflect on it, we will find this is true. We must understand that all human meaning is found in the Holy Child Jesus.
        All human meaning is bound up in the Holy child Jesus. The plan of God may be incomprehensible to us in detail, but it finds its concrete focus in the birth of his Son. This birth unexpectedly entangled itself in the plans of Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth. And Christ is also being born in the trials and failures of our lives. The opposite of faith is not unbelief, but despair, when we believe that nothing good can happen, that the current pain or limitation is all that will ever be, when everything collapses in on itself like a black hole. Despair is life-robbing. Despair is future- robbing .
         These last few days leading up to Christmas contain the potential for great wonder, if looked at from the perspective of God’s plan in Christ. They are stressful and busy, yes, but with a purpose. Pause to catch that perspective when decorate the tree, caroling, baking, and sending cards. This Christmas, choose to remember an innocent and powerless child  who conquers the hearts of the world. That is a reason to hold our love closer, our excuse to hug our children and hold them high, a reason to dress the season with hope, warmth, and holy splendor. Make this a good and loving week.

May God bless you all
Fr. Dominic
Your brother in Christ