We Christians often suffer from the paralysis of not living our faith in its fullness, of being Christians only in a timid, superficial, ad hoc way, only in the sacristy. If we recognise this, if we want to be healed from this sickness, from this sin, we need God's grace, God's healing. The paralytic took up his bed and went home praising God. This miraculous thing happens to us today if we come to God.

The second Sunday of Advent calls us to prepare the way. The promise is that "every man shall see the salvation of God". One condition has to be fulfilled in order to see the salvation: to prepare a straight path and a smooth way toward God. We fill up the valleys of our failings and carry away the heaps of our sins whenever in our daily decisions we chose love. In this difficult, depressing preparation it is an inspiring, certain fact for us that God works together with us, because he wants us so much to return to Him.

How good it is to be assured that God is close to us, reveals himself to us, gives us the gift of his inner life (which is love). Prophet Isaiah reminds us this Advent time that the Lord binds up the wounds of his people. And when God appears, his heart falls on people (on us) and he heals all our sicknesses and all our troubles. Then he sends us: 'go and preach'. Let us also be healing people, binding up the wounds of others.

In certain situations of our lives it is a great experience to be able to read between the lines, to hear the meaning of the words, to see what lies beneath the surface. These are moments of grace, gifts from God, of which the prophet Isaiah says: "in that day..." when the Saviour comes, who opens the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

One of the challenges of our Advent season is to seek and to do the will of God, where ever we are, according to our condition and situation. We must do this with our whole heart, with great love for God, not only in words but also in deeds. Turning the teaching of Jesus into deeds gives the rock foundation of our lives. It will outlive any storm because it is built on a solid foundation.

It is heartbreaking to see a little child crying.  The child stops crying  when a parent comforts him/her, when someone wipes the tears from his/her eyes. It is comforting for the child to know that s/he is not alone. One of the beautiful consolations of our Advent season is when the prophet Jeremiah assures us that "the Lord wipes away tears from every face". "I pity the people" says Jesus, expressing the tenderness of God who became flesh on that night in Bethlehem and became part of our human life.

St. Andrew and his companions were invited by Jesus. They left their nets and followed Him. He calls us to this soul-saving ministry, to spread the gospel with the faith and devoutness of the apostles. In the midst of our preoccupations, we must be the simple, humble, authentical workers of peace and love. Today he invites us because the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few.

It is so easy for us to forget God's ways and walk elsewhere but in his paths. We can discover this in our relationships whenever we do not build, we do not heal, but we destroy, we hurt, we do not spread the culture of life but instead we disseminate the culture of death. God has us make ploughshare and sickle instead of sword and spear as His path is the way of life. Let us follow God's path this Advent.

Advent latern - 2021 First Sunday of Advent The thoughts of Archbishop Dr. Kovács Gergely

From the first Sunday of Advent, through all of this period, sharing their thoughts, our superiors help us prepare to meet the baby Jesus in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. May it help and enrich us spiritually.

Jesus Christ is born, he came into our world. Why did he come among us? He did not come to reign, to rule over us, as this does not enrich him. He had no interest in searching us, reaching out to us. He does not want anything from us. He wants to give something to us. He wants to sacrifice himself for us. From the beginning of the world God is the one who gives us something. He created mankind, he offered himself as a gift. This is a real mystery that we cannot comprehend. If we understand a little bit of this mystery, our Christmas is real. It is worth it that he came among us.  

In many cases we are so busy with our own things that we forget what the most important is. This is how we deal with our values, our feasts. “Christmas is the feast of love”, we say and repeat this sentence out of routine. Every minute of our day is filled with something “important”: cleaning, buying presents… We forget the most important thing: that the rising Sun comes and visits us from heaven: God is visiting mankind. God liberates people, sends a liberator, God is merciful. That is the centre, the essence of Christmas, the feast of the birth of Jesus. this was, this is the essence forever.

Advent latern

There are moments when we realize all the correlations that affect and control our lives. In such moments our hearts are filled with joy and gratitude, as it happened with Hanna, who handed her very small child, Samuel, to God. In such moments our hearts are filled with happiness, as the heart of the Virgin Mother, who praised God for his wonderful plan. Our life is the fulfillment of God’s great love, it is never just a coincidence. Did I ever realize this?

The bride and the groom love each other with the same intensity. The relationship between the Church and Christ has to be the same. And the same has to be our own relationship with God. The intensity of God’s love never decreases, as it is not for itself but for us. Mary’s visit to Elisabeth shows the strong love that is willing to do something for the loved one. It draws our attention to see the needs of others.

The last stage of our preparations in Advent: recognizing God’s plan, believing in God’s plan, says yes to God’s plan. We have to say yes to God’s plan even when we do not understand what and why is happening. Be it suffering, sickness, the death of our beloved ones, God is always caring for us. On the 4th Sunday of Advent let us discover that God is concretely present in our lives, and just like the Blessed Mother of God, let us answer with a YES. The dialogue with the archangel, during the Annunciation, was ended by Mary thus: “››Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word. ‹‹ And the angel departed from her” (Lk 1:38). By saying yes to the Lord, the Virgin Mother said yes to Life. She said yes to our life.

“Nothing is impossible for God” – proclaims the archangel to Mary, when announcing the birth of Jesus (Lk 1, 37). It was not impossible for God to fulfill the request of Manoah and his wife, giving them a child, who later became the one of the judges of the chosen people of God, under the name of Samson. It was also not impossible for God to fulfill the wish of the high priest Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth, although they were past their youthful years. He gifted them, with such a child, in the person of John Baptist, who later prepared the ways for the coming of Jesus amongst his people.  Nothing is impossible for God concerning us too. That is why we must address him in the spirit of faith. Christmas is not only the feast of love, but of faith too. Let us allow it, to deepen in us the strong, unshakable faith.

ADVENT LANTERN (daily meditations) The thoughts of Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Tamás József