FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT THIS ADVENT

BY SR. CONSTANCE VEIT, LSP

OUR MOTHERHOUSE IS located on a large property in a tiny village in rural France. With its old stone buildings, expansive pastures, flower gardens and shaded pathways, it’s a gorgeously bucolic setting and the most peaceful place I’ve ever been.

During the year that I lived there I don’t think I heard a single airplane overhead, an emergency siren or even a car horn. The nighttime silence and dark, starlit skies were especially striking.

Looking up at the stars I felt the deep security of knowing I was enveloped by God’s love.

The memory of those starry Breton skies still quiets my soul and fills me with a sense of peacefulness in the midst of life’s inevitable difficulties.

What a contrast this is to the darkness enveloping our Ukrainian brothers and sisters this winter as their country continues to be bombarded on a daily basis. This darkness is not a blanket of security or prayerful serenity – although cries to God no doubt rise from it – but an inescapable cloud of fear and dread.

As I think of the people of Ukraine during this Advent season, I am reminded of the words of the prophet Isaiah about the people dwelling in darkness (Is 9:2ff). This passage speaks of a burdensome yoke, a taskmaster’s rod, boots tramped in battle and cloaks rolled in blood.

This is harsh military imagery.

The people living in darkness are wounded and oppressed, like our Ukrainian brothers and sisters today. They desperately need someone to shine a light into the cold cellars and improvised bunkers in which they huddle.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 13

The Diocese of Orange, through OC Catholic newspaper, presents local, national and world news about the Catholic Church. Our intention is to give our readers access to a variety of perspectives in order to help them to process the information within the framework of our Catholic faith, but also to better understand the perspectives of those with opposing viewpoints. We hope that ultimately our readers will be better equipped to have constructive conversations that further the growth of the

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Third Sunday Of Advent

THE ONE FOR WHOM OUR HEARTS LONG

PUT YOURSELF IN THE scene of today’s Gospel passage. John the Baptist is in prison. He has heard stories of what Jesus is doing, and wants reassurance that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. John’s disciples and those who surrounded Jesus were faithful Jews who would have known Isaiah’s prophecies by heart. God would send One who would bring sight to the blind, healing to those who were ill, salvation to all who longed to know God’s mercy and peace. Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question rings as powerfully in our ears today as it surely did for the people who were with him that day. His actions are precisely those that the people had been told to expect. Jesus is the One for whom the people have been patiently yet anxiously waiting, like the farmer who waits for the fruits of his labor. Jesus is the One for whom our hearts long.

Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co. C

READINGS FOR THE WEEK

MONDAY

ZEC 2:14-17 OR RV 11:19A; 12:1-6A, 10AB; JDT 13:18BCDE, 19; LK

OR LK 1:39-47, OR ANY READINGS FROM THE COMMON OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, NOS. 707-712

SAINT

Our Lady Of Guadalupe 16th Century

UNDER THIS TITLE, Our Lady is the patron of Mexico, the United States and all of the Americas, as well as the protector of unborn children. In 1531, she appeared in a vision to the peasant Juan Diego, on Tepeyac Hill near Mexico City, and charged him with asking the bishop to build a church on that spot. But the bishop demanded a sign, so Our Lady had Juan gather flowers in his cloak, in December, to take to the bishop. When Juan opened his cloak, the colorful image of Guadalupe was emblazoned on the cactus-cloth. That icon is preserved in the most famous shrine in the Western Hemisphere and Our Lady of Guadalupe continues to inspire poor and oppressed people worldwide.

TUESDAY

ZEP 3:1-2, 9-13; PS 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-19, 23; MT 21:28-32

WEDNESDAY IS 45: 6B-8, 18, 21B-25; PS 85:9AB, 10-14; LK 7:18B-23

THURSDAY IS 54:1-10; PS

PHOTOS: CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE, SHUTTERSTOCK

FRIDAY IS 56:1-3A, 6-8; PS 67:2-3, 5, 7-8; JN

SATURDAY

GN 49:2, 8-10; PS 72:1-4AB, 7-8, 17; MT 1:1-17

SUNDAY IS 7:10-14; PS 24:1-6; ROM 1:17; MT 1:18-24