THE GOOD NEWS
ARCHBISHOP BELTRAN

December 2, 2007

The Good News...

 ...Advent

Thanksgiving Day to Christmas, with the insertion of Advent in between affords us a unique occasion to assess the way we celebrate and live our Catholic Faith. Advent challenges us to take our Catholic Faith more seriously and thereby to grow in our knowledge and love of God. This is precisely what I mean when I urge you to live the fullness of our Catholic Faith. However, unless we adopt a plan and make a serious effort to use this time wisely, it will simply pass by and we will be no better off.

The two pivotal dates are Thanks-giving and Christmas. Thanksgiving evokes from us a spirit of gratitude to Almighty God from whom all good things come. Christmas brings us the summit of God’s gifts because it is the gift of God Himself to us.

Between these to great celebrations of Thanksgiving and Christmas we have the beautiful and joyful season of Advent. Normally this is a four-week period of preparation and anticipation of the Birth of Jesus. This year, however, because Christmas falls on a Tuesday, Advent is reduced to just three weeks. Therefore, we are faced with a greater urgency to make the most of this Advent Season.

Since Advent is a joyful time to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus, we need to begin our observance by reflecting on what God has revealed to us. The Sacred Scriptures tell us about our good and gracious God from whom all good things come.

God and God alone is eternal. He and He alone, the Triune God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has no beginning and no end. Everything and everyone else has a beginning. We are created by the eternal, Almighty God. Each of us has been brought into existence by the Will of God. God has a plan for human beings.

God made each of us, breathing life into us so that made in His image and likeness we can come to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him now so that someday we could love and rejoice with Him forever in heaven.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church beautifully describes this plan of God for human beings. It states that we are created by God and for God.  Therefore, the desire for God has been instilled in us with a thirst and hunger for happiness. This desire, so to speak, is written in the human heart. This hunger and thirst can be satisfied only in God. In Him alone can we find true and complete happiness.

Since God created us out of love and with a burning desire to seek Him, He will never abandon us. He is always calling us to repent from sin and He will forgive us. He invites us to a new and better life offering to heal us, to nurture us, to strengthen and lead us safely on our pilgrim journey of life.

These Advent Days offer us the opportune moment to reflect on this beautiful plan God has for us. God’s plan is fulfilled by His sending His Son Jesus to the world. There, Jesus was born at Bethlehem. He lived among us. He suffered and died for us. He redeemed us and now calls us during this Advent Season to rejoice in His presence. For He has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly. A Blessed Advent for all!