Advent - 2024; Week Three

Advent - 2024; Week Three

Purification of our hearts is a necessary requirement as we prepare to meet the Christ Child at Bethlehem and present him with gifts of joy as he comes with the grace of forgiveness without asking anything but acceptance.  

Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family.  Simple shepherds were the first witnesses to this event.  In this poverty heaven's glory was made manifest.  The Church Never tires of singing the glory of this night.  (CCC 525).

There now is a glow that appears within our bosom as we await the moment that the cries from a child of God, who is God himself, will fill the heaven’s with joy and ring out a new freedom that he alone will bring to you and me.  

From the Liturgy of the Hours:

Ant: Let us cleanse our hearts for the coming of our great King, that we may be ready to welcome him; he is coming and will not delay.

The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel,  For the tyrant will be no more and the arrogant will have gone; all who are alert to do evil will be cut off, those whose mere word condemns a man, who ensnare his defender at the gate, and leave the just man with an empty claim.  When his children see the work of my hands in his midst, they shall keep my name holy; they shall reverence the Holy One of Jacob, and be in awe of the God of Israel.  (Is 29: 13 - 24).

A voice from the past proclaiming the institutions of the Son of God; loving, forgiving, and preparing a place for us in heaven.

Ralph B. Hathaway