2nd Sunday of Advent

"To be parish is to be a place, to be a people, where God’s command to comfort the other is fulfilled."

- Rev. Terrance W. Klein, America Magazine, December 9, 2017

When we think of those who are around us when we gather around the table of the Lord each Sunday - there are many who need comfort:

• Those who are approaching their first Christmas after the death of someone, whom they have dearly loved. 
• Those who come to Christmas to celebrate the Word made flesh, knowing that cancer or some other disease has invaded their own flesh. 
• Those who are, late in life, once again raising children in their home because unless they do their grandchildren will have no nurturing home. 
• Those who, advanced in age, live in fear that this will be their last Christmas in their own home, still able to live life in their own way. 
• Those who struggle to make Christmas something their children will always remember but only add to the mounting worry about bills that cannot be paid. 
• Those who came to this country, desperate to find a new life, and who now live in fear that everything might be lost. 
• Those who want to live in the freedom of Christ but are still held captive by addiction. 
• Those who try to spread holiday cheer and comfort, all the while returning to homes where discord and distrust hold reign. 
• Those who are growing up different than others, in communities where young people are expected to mature in well-worn ways. 
• Those who are alienated from their family and friends, cut off from the faces meant to give them life. 
• Those, who think that they are alone in struggling with unbelief and with questions about their faith. 
• Those who are not here in the parish most Sundays because it has never been a place of comfort for them. 

We hear today in the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah - "Comfort, O comfort my people, says the Lord." This is a command, not a promise! How can we, as a parish, be a place of comfort for all of God's People?

Peace