Watchful Confidence

11-28-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

We the Church enter into Advent and the new liturgical year with a call for a watchful confidence. Our readings were originally addressed to communities undergoing great loss and confusion. Jeremiah speaks confidently of God fulfilling the ancient promises to Israel, even during a time of foreign invasion. Paul speaks of God leading the Church into holiness, while the community longs for the coming of Jesus.

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Christ, the King

11-21-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

The selection from the book of Daniel presented in today’s first reading was part of an attempt to weave a vision of ultimate success for the Jews under persecution. Exactly whom the author had in mind when he refers to “one like a Son of Man” is hotly disputed by scholars today.

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God's Reign

11-14-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

By pointing to the end times, today’s readings speak to the coming reign of God, when God will make all things new. In Christ, this time has already begun. We, by our energized watchfulness, can further God’s reign. We can heal broken hearts, free captives, spread the Good News. Even so, the reign of God will not be complete without the second coming of Christ.

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The Poor

11-07-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

As Christians, we hear a lot about the witness and service that we are called to render to the poor among us. However, the poor also have a witness and a service to render to us. Like the actions of the widow in today’s Gospel, the openness and generosity of many of those who are poor, even in the midst of their own poverty, bear witness to the fact that, ultimately, we can depend only on God. Giving one’s all witnesses that God will give all to anyone who trusts in divine goodness.

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