But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake. Mark 13:(24-32)33-37  

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The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,”’ John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ Mark 1:1-8

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In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her. Luke 1:26-38

There is a ministry in New York City called Covenant House, which assists runaway girls who are working in the streets. The girls are always surprised when a Covenant House worker offers them something free with no strings attached. What does this ministry hope to accomplish? We know that many kids have never tried or heard of Covenant House. But they need to know that someone in New York City cares for them. Many times, when we work for such a ministry as a volunteer, we have a tendency to feel very depressed for the first few weeks. We ask ourselves, "What kind of God would allow this?" But we have to let God work through us! God's not going to come down and do the work for us – he has already come through his son Jesus. It is now our responsibility to show God's love, and to be the heart and hands of Jesus. Advent prepares us to receive the incarnation. Now it is our turn to let God's love work through us. When Jesus was about to ascend after the resurrection, he gave us the great commission, and that's why we are here. We have been commissioned through our baptism and confirmation to be channels of love, and to serve as instruments of divine love. This is what Mary did; she said yes to being a vehicle for divine love. We also are invited to bear Christ into the world. Christ's love must be born through you and me. God wants us also to say yes. Christmas is typically a day for the children to enjoy and celebrate, but we must also teach why God brought Jesus to us: to bring God's love to the world. This is our role in the kingdom. We're all taught what kind of people we should be. The greatest lesson in the world is seeing our parents model this for us. But we must also bring this to others. We must learn and relearn this every Advent. It is what Jesus did in his world, and what we must do in our world. God is with us, and we must allow him to work his love and justice through us.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. John 1:1-18

Christmas has come and gone. For many of us these quiet days after Christmas are a time to slow down and exhale, and we might even get a touch of the post-Christmas blues. In our Sunday readings, we go from the placid manger scene of last week to John's gospel – in which there is no manger, no Christmas tree, no presents. Christmas is done. But Christmas is more than a climactic week culminating in a frenzy of opening presents under the tree.  John the evangelist was writing after the destruction of Jerusalem. The peoples' idea of God was that of a distant and unconcerned deity. John was testifying to rational, thinking people. This was the time of Aristotle, Socrates and Plato. The gentiles simply couldn’t conceive of a God who had human feelings and desires. But John says that God is present in the creation of the universe and in our private lives. John sought to tell the people that Jesus is the son of God, the Messiah, born to offer salvation and grace. From the gospel we read that Jesus was there before all things were made. He participated in the creation of the universe. Through him all things were made. This same Word became flesh. John strives to give the people an understanding of the magnitude of the gift God gives us at Christmas. John insists that the baby is the Word, that this God lay in the manger and subjected himself to be wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed on a pile of hay. The fact that he came to us in the world was a revolutionary concept to them, as it is to us today. The rampant consumerism that we see at Christmastime and even throughout the entire year reminds us that we must not fail to consider the very God who hung the planets and stars and who set the earth on its course around the sun, and not get caught up in the blinking lights and figurines in the crèche. This God wanted to know our condition – all of our sadness and guilt. He cried real tears, experienced temptation and became angry. That's what John hoped that the readers would get from his writings – that God is interested in us and is desirous of a relationship with us, and was even prepared to die for us. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Now that all of the excitement of presents and parties has passed, we might be asking ourselves, have we missed something? Today's reading is the perfect antidote for the post-Christmas blues. "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." That's the Christmas message. We each need to know him, to accept him, to receive him and believe in his name. Can we look past the sentiments of the manger scene, and see God our Savior? Every checkout girl at the store, every Metra rail conductor, every business man, and every Salvation army bell-ringer on the corner needs to know that Jesus came for them too. Can we see Jesus in their eyes? We have the power to become children of God. Have we accepted that power? This is the present he gave us. Have we taken the time to open it? It is a matter of choosing life over darkness, and saying "I believe". The eternal Word, begotten, not made, came down from heaven in the form of a baby – that is the message of Christmas. God himself; Jesus the Christ. They are one and the same. Take it with you. God go with you.

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.' When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’ Matthew 2:13-15,19-23

Recently I was saddened by the news of a friend's unexpected death. The news was shocking and unreal to me, and I didn't know what to think. I only knew that I should pray. But nothing happens outside of God's perfect will. It was not shocking or surprising to God. Nothing could take away the feelings of grief and loss, but there was a great comfort in knowing that nothing happens outside of God's perfect will. What is God's perfect will for our lives? What does God want for us? In today's gospel lesson, God directs Joseph through the words of an angel. An angel appears to Joseph and  commands his to move the family. Now, Joseph had the option to disobey God. This begs the question, if God knows everything, then isn't God manipulating us? But our own sin is living proof: We are free to choose. Our ability to seek God's will is the very thing that distances us from other creatures. His image in us is evidenced by free will. We should want nothing less than God's will for our lives. "Blessed are those whose strength is in you," says the Psalm for today. (Ps 84:5) It is much more satisfying to know that God is in control and has a plan for our lives. The message of Christmas is something we can treasure in our hearts – Emmanuel, God with us. Christ came as a baby, and yes, will come again, but let us not forget the coming of Christ in our own lives, the joyful season of the resurrected Lord in our hearts. After the holidays are over, it might seem like there's nothing to look forward to any more. Many people experience depression after all of the commotion of the Christmas season is over. But it's important not to disregard the true message of Advent – the coming of the Savior and his presence in our lives during the entire year. Don't put that message back into the box with the ornaments and decorations that will be put away until next year. Christ is alive in our hearts today. What is God asking of us? We can't overemphasize the importance. He, from whom no secrets are hid, is asking something of us. I can't answer that question for each of you, but I encourage you to keep seeking what God wants for your lives. It's a process of continually seeking God's will – when you get up, as you work, as you play, as you eat meals, when you lay down again at night – it is a continual process of asking God what his will is for us. As Paul's prayer in Ephesians says, ”I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you." (Eph 1:17-18)