The Calmed Heart
The First Sunday of Advent 2021
November 28, 2021
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Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28,34-36
The Gospel paints a frightening picture of the end-times in the natural world, and the author urges patience to all believers in God to retain hope. In our current world, we are surrounded by frightening news every day, and it has a bewildering effect upon us, if we let it because some of us cannot find a way to escape the effects of this news upon our consciousness.
We have little control over the actions those who do not believe or trust in God, and our task is to keep ourselves rooted and grounded in God’s mercy. We cannot let us become like those who lose hope, like those who search for different gods, like those who place their values in the world of false pleasures. We are to view the world through a different lens. We are to paint an image on canvas of the world that God sees, not the world that many humans see, and we need to feed our awareness with this type of beauty.
Many in the world have become impatient in many things. Many exhibit poor social and interpersonal behaviors, they lack respect for others and themselves, and they seek to get what they want first, and yet they know their behaviors are unsatisfying and they ultimately do not feel good about the style and methods of their actions. We believers have to be known for our patience and understanding, our care for the needs of others, and to put the common good in front of our own needs because ultimately, we all win when we are more concerned for others over ourselves.
St. Paul tells the Thessalonians that when they see these negative circumstances, believers must increase their love for others, which can be difficult in the face of hostility and poor upbringing, but that love must endure because this love defines us. Our conduct will reveal to the world what we believe. We are responsible for one another by making sure our hearts first are in a good place, so we can strengthen others who might not have this hope, who might be caught in the system of negativity.
Love wins the world over one heart at a time. Let’s allow Jesus to calm our hearts this Advent, one day at a time, so we can see the beauty in the world that he sees, and so that we can be that example of love that others look to and see worlds of promise.
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (Isaiah 2) The mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it; many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob.
Tuesday: (Romans 10) If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
Wednesday: (Isaiah 25) On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples. A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples.
Thursday: (Isaiah 26) A strong city have we; he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us. Open up the gates to let in a nation that is just, one that keeps faith. A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace; in peace, for its trust in you.
Friday (Isaiah 27) But a very little while, and Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and the orchard be regarded as a forest! On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see.
Saturday (Isaiah 30) O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, no more will you weep; He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you. The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst.
Gospel:
Monday: (Matthew 8) When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.”
Tuesday: (Matthew 4) As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Wednesday (Matthew 15) Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.
Thursday (Matthew 7) Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Friday (Matthew 9) When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.”
Saturday (Matthew 9) At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.”
Saints of the Week
November 29: Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos, S.J., religious (1711-1735) was the first and main apostle to the devotion of the Sacred Heart. He entered the novitiate in Spain at age 14 and took vows at 17. He had mystical visions of the Sacred Heart. He was ordained in January 1735 with a special dispensation because he was not old enough. A few weeks after celebrating his first mass, he contracted typhus and died on November 29th.
November 30: Andrew, apostle (first century) was a disciple of John the Baptist and the brother of Simon Peter. Both were fishermen from Bethsaida. He became one of the first disciples of Jesus. Little is known of Andrew's preaching after the resurrection. Tradition places him in Greece while Scotland has incredible devotion to the apostle.
December 1: Edmund Campion, S.J., (1540- 1581), Robert Southwell, S.J., (1561-1595) martyrs, were English natives and Jesuit priests at a time when Catholics were persecuted in the country. Both men acknowledge Queen Elizabeth as monarch, but they refused to renounce their Catholic faith. They are among the 40 martyrs of England and Wales. Campion was killed in 1581 and Southwell’s death was 1595.
December 3: Francis Xavier, S.J., priest (1506-1552) was a founding members of the Jesuit Order who was sent to the East Indies and Japan as a missionary. His preaching converted hundreds of thousands of converts to the faith. He died before reaching China. Xavier was a classmate of Peter Faber and Ignatius of Loyola at the University of Paris.
This Week in Jesuit History
- November 28, 1759: Twenty Fathers and 192 Scholastics set sail from the Tagus for exile. Two were to die on the voyage to Genoa and Civita Vecchia.
- November 29, 1773: The Jesuits of White Russia requested the Empress Catherine to allow the Letter of Suppression to be published, as it had been all over Europe. "She bade them lay aside their scruples, promising to obtain the Papal sanction for their remaining in status quo.
- November 30, 1642: The birth of Br Andrea Pozzo at Trent, who was called to Rome in 1681 to paint the flat ceiling of the church of San Ignacio so that it would look as though there were a dome above. There had been a plan for a dome but there was not money to build it. His work is still on view.
- December. 1, 1581: At Tyburn in London, Edmund Campion and Alexander Briant were martyred.
- December. 2, 1552: On the island of Sancian off the coast of China, Francis Xavier died.
- December. 3, 1563: At the Council of Trent, the Institute of the Society was approved.
- December. 4, 1870: The Roman College, appropriated by the Piedmontese government, was reopened as a Lyceum. The monogram of the Society over the main entrance was effaced.
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