HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! You may think I am crazy (and you may be right). But with the arrival of Advent, it brings the arrival of a New
Church Year! Our Sunday readings have a 3-year cycle. A, B, and C, I never said Holy Mother Church was creative with names. Last
year we were in cycle A, so this weekend we have the readings from the first Sunday of Advent, Year B.

The ORDO, that holds all the notes and special instructions for the Masses for the next year starts with a wonderful reflection. I would
like to include it here…

“Human beings cannot live without hope. Unlike the animals, we are blessed- or cursed- with the ability to think about the
future and to gear our actions to shaping it. So essential is this to human life, that human beings cannot live without hope, without
something to live for, without something to look forward to. To be without hope, to have nothing to live for, is to surrender to death in
despair. But we can find all sorts of things to live for and we can hope for almost anything: for some measure of success or security or for
the realization of some more or less modest ambition; for our children, that they might be saved from our mistakes and sufferings and
find a better life than we have known; for a better world, throwing ourselves into politics or medicine or technology so that future gener-
ations might be better off. Not all these forms of hope are selfish; indeed, they have given dignity and purpose to the lives of countless
generations.

But one of the reasons why we read the Old Testament during Advent is to learn what to hope for. The people of the
Old Testament had the courage to hope for big things: that the desert would be turned into fertile land; that their scattered and divided
people would eventually be gathered again; that the blind would see, the deaf hear, the lame walk; that not only their own people, but all
the peoples of the earth, would be united in the blessings of everlasting peace. Clearly, their hopes were no different from ours or from
any human being’s: lasting peace, tranquil lives, sufficiency of food, an end to suffering, pain, and misery.

Thus, we hope for the same things as the Old Testament people, for their hopes are not yet realized. But we differ from
them in two ways. First, the coming of Jesus in history, as a partial fulfillment of God’s promises, immeasurably confirms and strength-
ens our hope. Secondly, we differ from the Old Testament people because Jesus has revealed to us that God is not afar off but is already
in our midst. Hence the importance in the Advent liturgy of John the Baptist and of Mary: because they recognized the new situation,
they serve as models for the Church in discerning the presence of our Savior in the world. “–Taken from “The Spirit of Advent.” Mark
Searle, in Assembly, Volume 7:1 Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, Notre Dame, IN.

What has your focus been during Advent? Has it been the remembrance of when Christ was born into this world those many
years ago? Or has there been more of a focus on His second coming? Maybe if you’re honest with yourself, it may be something else that
you really get excited about this time of year. Maybe you take that drive around to look at Christmas lights, Christmas Parties with fam-
ily and friends. Maybe you are a gift giver and just love to give people that perfect gift. Maybe you’re a gift receiver and get excited about
what you may get. It is not that any of these things are Bad, but Christ should come first. Try and take some time this Advent to look at
what you are preparing for, for what you are chasing.

Blessings,
Fr. Backer