St. Peter Catholic Church
  • Home
  • From The Pastor
  • Online Streaming
    • Mass Archives
  • Parish Info
    • Welcome
    • Mass & Reconciliation
    • Sacramental Information
    • Register With Parish
    • RESOURCES
    • Parish Team
    • Photo Gallery
  • Education
    • OCIA
    • Guardian Angel
    • Religious Education >
      • RE Registration
      • RE Online Payment
      • Sacrament Information
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Catholic Education
    • SCRIP
  • Ministry
    • YOUTH MINISTRY
    • Ministry Schedule
    • CAMPUS MINISTRY
    • Parish Ministries
  • News
    • Parishioner News
    • DIOCESAN NEWS
    • Weekly Bulletin
    • Weekly Calendar
    • Monthly Look
    • Upcoming Events
    • St Peter Columbarium
  • Stewardship
    • Online Giving
    • Opportunities

Second Sunday of Advent 12/5/2021

12/3/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
 
                                           The Three Advents
    Fr. James Conner, OCSO (continued from last week)

 
Paul reminds us: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Just as Jesus Christ was conscious that he received all from the Father, so the heart of his disciple must be conformed to the humiliation of his heart. That is why he told us: “Learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). Because of our fallen state, because of our sinfulness, the heart is deeply ambivalent. The heart is the place where we are brought face to face with the power of evil and sin within us. Yet the heart is also the place where we encounter God. It is the locus of divine indwelling, as Paul says: “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). The heart is both the center of the human person and the point of meeting between the human and God. It is both the place of self-knowledge, where we see ourselves as we truly are, and the place of self-transcendence, where we understand our nature as a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is here that the mystery of Advent is realized. It is here that life and prayer become one. And it is here that we discover our profound oneness with all the rest of creation.
 
Bernard sums up the three Advents by noting that in the first Advent, Christ “was seen on earth and lived among human beings,” who either accepted or rejected him. But in the third Advent “all flesh will see the salvation of our God [Isaiah 40:5].” We live in a moment between those two Advents that is an opportunity to welcome Christ, the Word of God. Bernard explains, The intermediate coming is a kind of path by which we travel from the first to the final. In the first Christ was our redemption. In the final he shall appear as our life. In this one…he is our rest and consolation. …Anyone who loves me will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him [John 14:23].… Where then are [God’s words] to be kept? Doubtless, in the heart…. Is it enough to keep them in the memory alone? The Apostle will tell anyone who keeps them in this way that knowledge puffs up [1 Corinthians 8:1]. Then, too, forgetfulness easily wipes out memory. “In this way, keep God’s Word,” Bernard of Clairvaux counsels. “Let it enter into the bowels of your soul. Let it pass into your feelings and into your routines.” In this way, keep God’s Word: Blessed are those who [hear the word of God] and keep it [Luke 11:28].
 
(To be continued)

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Parish Office Hours

Monday - Thursday

9:00am - 4:00pm

Fridays: Closed



Address

Mailing Address:  
1840 Marshall Drive
Elizabethtown, PA 17
022

GPS Address:
904 Mill Road
Elizabethtown, PA 17022

Contact Us

Phone: 717-367-1255
Fax: 717-367-1270

Email: bulletininfo@stpeteretown.org



© St. Peter Catholic Church. 2019. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • From The Pastor
  • Online Streaming
    • Mass Archives
  • Parish Info
    • Welcome
    • Mass & Reconciliation
    • Sacramental Information
    • Register With Parish
    • RESOURCES
    • Parish Team
    • Photo Gallery
  • Education
    • OCIA
    • Guardian Angel
    • Religious Education >
      • RE Registration
      • RE Online Payment
      • Sacrament Information
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Catholic Education
    • SCRIP
  • Ministry
    • YOUTH MINISTRY
    • Ministry Schedule
    • CAMPUS MINISTRY
    • Parish Ministries
  • News
    • Parishioner News
    • DIOCESAN NEWS
    • Weekly Bulletin
    • Weekly Calendar
    • Monthly Look
    • Upcoming Events
    • St Peter Columbarium
  • Stewardship
    • Online Giving
    • Opportunities