Study of the Readings
ed. by
Joyce Ann Zimmerman,
et al
• Words, Phrases
• To the point
• First Two Readings
• Experience
Dennis
Hamm, SJ
Advent is a preparation for the celebration of a gift that is, in great part, already realized. The Church punctuates this season with the joyful note of Gaudete Sunday
John Kavanaugh, SJ
Advent’s themes of happiness and hope can annoy someone who hurts. When you are burdened with the chaff of ego or the weight of anxieties, forced joy and canned glee disgust the best of persons.
John J. Pilch
Be content with your pay, or rations and provisions. This is nothing more than the ideal of military conduct proposed by Caesar Augustus.
When your soul is overcome by some temptation, it is not the temptation that turns you into chaff. No, you were chaff already, that is to say fickle and faithless; the temptation simply discloses the stuff you are made of.
Reginald H. Fuller
Advent is not a gloomy season, despite the traditional use of the same liturgical color as is used for Lent. Rather, Advent is marked by a crescendo of joy.