Weekly Readings Reflections: 4th Sunday of Advent

Our readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent are:

The Church seems to be full of folks beset with nostalgia. Some of that nostalgia runs 7 decades deep, back to a time when the Church was sure of her role in the world, when Catholic culture was pervasive throughout entire neighborhoods, when things were simple and clear.
What are you nostalgic for? What do you think has been lost along the way over the decades that you have lived?
If you could go back to an earlier time, would you?
Do you feel that we, as Church, need to somehow dial back the clock and return to core values, core practices, devotions, ..., or somehow find a way to reinvent ourselves in light of current challenges, current needs, current culture?
Who is going to lead us into that brave new world?
Who is the most qualified to do that leading?

Good to know I'm the apple of your eye, but you have a funny way of showing it ...

Have you ever had a really good friend who had some hard words for you, or in some other way had to show you "tough love"?
How did that experience affect your friendship?
Have you ever had the courage to do that for someone else?
How much courage do you think it takes for God to treat us that way?

The transubstantiation of the bread and wine at Eucharist is a consecration. In a very similar way, each of us is consecrated when we offer ourselves to God for His service.
If you had to summarize it in as few words as possible, what would you say is the purpose of your life?
How have you been living that out lately?
How do you see yourself living that in the years ahead?

Say what you will about the Harry Potter storyline, one thing that strikes me about that saga is the two-edged sword that befalls Harry as he steps into his destiny. He quickly gets ushered out of a miserable, though well understood, existence into a much wider sphere that he has been largely blind to. Or take Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. He is forcibly pushed from his comfortable existence in the Shire, and in a matter of just a few hours confronts vast and terrifying evil that he was totally ignorant of.
What are some experiences that have made you connected? That connection could be to other folks you have known for years that you finally understand better than you ever have, or you suddenly "get" what it means to belong to the community of saints, or maybe injustice suffered brings you into community with those through the ages who have been oppressed.
What brought those moments on?
How have they changed you?
Do you look forward to more of those, or less?
Why?

Shalom!

Weekly Readings Reflections