Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • November 29, 2019 5 9274 Hwy 49/Airport Gulfport, MS 39503 228-863-5525 1-800-880-2446 FAX: 228-863-9612 www.butchoustalet.com 1260 Ocean Springs Road, Ocean Springs, MS 39564 Ph: 228-818-0650 For more information, contact Jody Ellis Stoddard, Executive Director or email her at gardensED@BlueHarborSL.com Web Address: www.gardensseniorliving.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheGardensSeniorLivingOceanSprings 10545206 Subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Co. © 2013 Allstate Insurance Co. Chris Boudreaux 228-452-9605 209 E. Second Street, Ste. A Pass Christian, MS cjboudreaux@allstate.com MAYHEM IS EXPENSIVE. ALLSTATE IS NOT. In thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit, Blessed Mother and St. Jude, for prayers answered. AVN Thank you, St. Jude, for your intercession. BH Thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St. Jude, for prayers answered. LD A recent news headline read, “Religion may become extinct in nine European nations” and named the Netherlands as one of those countries. A deacon couple I know experienced this firsthand. While vacationing in the Netherlands, they learned that many Catholic churches and schools had closed, and the Cathedral Church had only one weekend Mass with fewer than 125 people attending. One Saturday evening they met and had dinner with a local couple. The evening was going well, and a lasting friendship was developing until the deacon asked if there was a Catholic church nearby where they could attend Mass. The reply was totally unexpected. Instead of the warmth and graciousness they displayed earlier there was a condescending rudeness accompanied by a snicker as the husband said, “You mean you believe in such a thing as a god?” Without waiting for a reply, he expressed disbelief that two ‘otherwise intelligent’ people actually practiced a religion. There is no more fitting time for Catholic Christians to be aware of and display our contrarian nature than the season of Advent. Where knowing, loving and serving the Lord is more important to us than accumulating personal wants. While others busily prepare shopping lists, decorate their homes and frantically search for sales, practicing Catholics manage to do all these (hopefully in moderation) while keeping their primary focus on watching, waiting, praying and longing for the coming of Christ. We do this by frequently attending Mass, celebrating the Sacraments especially Reconciliation to worthily prepare our hearts for Jesus’ coming as a babe, born of a virgin, through the power of the Holy Spirit, acknowledging with praise and worship Christ’s presence among us now, especially in the Eucharist and rejoicing in his promise to come again in glory and lead us to our heavenly home. Today’s Scripture passages focus on the wonder of God and call us to embrace our contrary nature by seeking him above all other pursuits. Amid the rebellion of a stiff-necked people who will soon be defeated in battle and enslaved by enemy forces because of their refusal to honor the ways of God and trust God’s protection; Isaiah is a sign of contradiction. The Prophet looks ahead, not to the end of all things but with the vision of a people willing to recognize their need for God. Life may look grim now, but Isaiah invites them to prepare for God’s intervention with open hearts and focus more on God’s deeds on their behalf than present woes. His words are a promise and an urging to seek God’s wisdom, instruction, and the peace they so desperately long for. Human wisdom, the alternative, is imperfect, flawed and inwardly motivated. God’s wisdom surpasses all others. “Come let us climb the Lord’s mountain that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths” (Isaiah 2:3). There is no more stark contradiction of the world’s ways then mountain top encounters with our Lord. There, we can exchange the war within, the turmoil without, stubborn unbelief, self-dependence and hopelessness for God’s gift of peace. Paul’s letter to the Romans offers needed advice to believers. We are in a critical time, now is the hour to awake from sleep (by responding zealously to God’s call) and make known by our actions that we belong to the Lord. Through Baptism, we have already put on Christ and are strengthened to bear fruit, conduct ourselves accordingly, and overcome sin’s darkness with the contradictory light of God’s goodness. In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns against the attitudes of arrogance and pride and likens them to the days of Noah when people (viz the Netherland’s couple) put other pursuits ahead of close union with God. They were busy running after worldly desires and therefore running away from God. In announcing he will come again in glory, Jesus cautions against trying to calculate the exact time but to stay ever awake by living now as if we were going to live forever. Although the end of the world or Jesus’ second coming are unknown to us, we take his words today as a divine appointment. When the end of our time on earth comes, if we have focused on faith development, grounded in Scripture and living the sacramental life we need not fear, but look forward with joy to meeting our Lord face-to-face. Advent begs for a new assessment of our needs and the courage to redirect our energies. As Advent 2020 unfolds, avoid the sometimes frantic activity to accumulate stuff. Instead, make a special effort to order your ways as a contradiction through prayer, Mass attendance, Scripture reading and performing works of kindness and mercy. “O Come, O Come, Emanuel and ransom captive … (insert your name, family members, city, parish, etc.) Deacon Ralph Tor- relli lives in Hattiesburg and is assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. Visit his website: www. homilypearls.com. 1st Reading: Isaiah: 2:1-5 Responsorial Psalm: 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 2nd Reading: Romans 13:11-14 Gospel: Matthew 24:37-44 Advent 1 st Sunday Contradiction Deacon Torrell i Sunday Scripture Commentaries