Lord, teach me your ways.

Beloved in the Lord, as we begin this new liturgical year, it is right and proper, as we take stock of the past year, to entrust ourselves to the Lord, who knows better than we do the path that leads to him. Let us cry out with the psalmist: Lord, teach me your ways. This confident supplication expresses not only our knowledge and awareness that the Lord’s way is good, but also our willingness to allow ourselves to be led along it.
In this, we are guided by the instructions given to us by the Lord, by those who are responsible for educating us in the faith. In this way, our love for one another will never cease to grow, fulfilling for us the Lord’s word of happiness: to stand before the Son of Man when he comes, so as to share with him in his kingdom.
In the Gospel, Christ speaks of his coming, of the mystery that we celebrate in the first part of Advent, from the first Sunday to December 16.

He tells his disciples about the signs that announce his return: the powers of darkness will be shaken. This is what had already happened with the evil spirit in the synagogue (Mk 1:23-24). Evil spirits cannot bear the presence of the Lord. But in a final burst of malice, they will want to kill as many people as possible. Hence Jesus’ challenge: ’When these events begin, stand up straight and lift up your heads, for your redemption is at hand.’ In other words, draw the last bit of energy from within yourselves to persevere until the end.
As Christians, our presence everywhere must challenge those who do evil. It’s sometimes when we’re close to our goal that the adversary’s ardour becomes fiercer, but it’s also at this time that we must remain on our guard so that our hearts don’t grow heavy.

Happy Advent Sunday and a holy day to you.