Saints + Scripture: Second Sunday of Advent

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

'Tis the Second Sunday of Advent: Advent-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Second Sunday of Advent
The Book of Baruch, chapter five, verses one thru nine;
Psalm One Hundred Twenty-six, verses one & two, two & three, four & five, & six;
The Letter to the Philippians, chapter one, verses four, five, six, & eight thru eleven;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter three, verses one thru six.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, in today’s Gospel Luke quotes from the prophet Isaiah: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths."

Advent is a great liturgical season of waiting—but not a passive waiting. We yearn, we search, and we reach out for the God who will come to us in human flesh. In short, we prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This preparation has a penitential dimension, because it is the season in which we prepare for the coming of a savior, and we don’t need a savior unless we’re deeply convinced there is something to be saved from. When we have become deeply aware of our sin, we know that we can cling to nothing in ourselves, that everything we offer is, to some degree, tainted and impure. We can’t show our cultural, professional, and personal accomplishments to God as though they are enough to save us. But the moment we realize that fact, we move into the Advent spirit, desperately craving a savior.

In the book of Isaiah, we read: "Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you are the potter: we are all the work of your hands." Today, let us prepare ourselves for the potter to come.

Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Video reflection by Father Claude Burns (uCatholic): Weekend Reflection with Father Pontifex.

Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.

Mass Journal: Week Two
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:

There is genius in Catholicism, if we will just take the time & make the effort to humbly explore it. If you & I are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem. If sixty-seven million Catholics in the United States stepped it up a notch, something incredible would happen. So let's decide, here & now, today, to begin to explore the genius of our faith, to be part of the solution, & step it up a notch.

†

Otherwise, 9 December would be the festival of Saint Valeria of Limoges, Martyr (floruit third century, also spelt Valerie), martyred in the reign of a Roman emperor, a cephalophore: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Cephalophore.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Gorgonia (died circa 375): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Daughter of Ss. Gregory of Nazianzus the Elder [1 January] & Nonna [5 August] & sister of Ss. Gregory of Nazianzus the Younger, Doctor of the Church [2 January], & Caesarius of Nazianzus [25 February].

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548), to whom was revealed the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe (1531): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Madonna-link & Wikipedia-link Guadalupe.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Peter Fourier, Priest, C.R.S.A. (1565-1640, the "Good Father of Mattaincourt"), founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Canonesses Regular of Saint Augustine & the Congregation of Clerics Regular of Our Savior: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Women & Wikipedia-link Men.

We also remember Venerable Fulton Sheen, Bishop (1895-1979), host of the radio series The Catholic Hour (1928-1952) & the television series Life Is Worth Living (1952-1957, & successor series, 1958-1968): Venerable-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Life Is Worth Living.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"In Advent, the Church arouses in us the consciousness of our sins. She also urges us, by restraining our desires & practicing voluntary mortification of the body, to recollect ourselves in meditation & experience a longing desire to return to God."
—Pope Ven. Pius XII (1876-1958)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"I do not shrink from a long life: I do not refuse the battle. The Lord is the rock upon which I stand."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love"
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)