Carmelite homily for Sunday, December 1, 2019 | The First Sunday of Advent | Lectionary 001
Today we begin a new season and a new year – it’s the Season of Advent. But the Gospel’s kinda scary. It says that it’s going to be like the days of Noah when the floods came and swept everyone away. Or there’ll be two people working in the field – one will be taken, one will be left. Or grinding meal – one will be taken, one will be left. And the homeowner would not have slept if he knew when the thief was coming. All kind of scary. But it shouldn’t be. This is the season of patience, the season of hope – Advent. I think Teresa of Avila tells us how to react to all this with her probably best-known quotation – the Bookmark. It’s something she wrote in the corner of her Breviary to remind her of this everyday. She writes, “Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away, God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.” Let’s make that this season. Let’s make that our lives. Let’s make that our journey as we journey to the Nativity.