Reflection for December 16
Desmond, age 14
Advent is more than a countdown to Christmas; it is a sacred season of preparation. We are invited not only to remember Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, but to transform our lives, our communities, and our world today.
When the father in the gospel says, “Go out and work in the vineyard today,” he is speaking personally and urgently, directly to us. Advent calls us to act now, today, to make room for Christ through prayer and loving service to a world in need. Pope Francis captures the heart of this mission:
“I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.”
Our world bears many wounds, families and nations divided by politics and prejudice, widening gaps between rich and poor, the lingering pain of racism, displacement, and wars that rage from Gaza to Ukraine. To work in the vineyard today means healing these fractures through justice, mercy, and care for creation by fostering peace, welcoming the stranger, restoring dignity, and tending the earth that sustains us all.
That is our Advent work: to bring healing and warmth into a wounded world. We prepare for Christ’s birth not by decorating more beautifully, but by loving more deeply; not by accumulating more gifts, but by giving more generously to those in need; not by wishing for peace, but by becoming peacemakers. When we do, Bethlehem happens again, Christ is born among us, and His light once more shines through us.
Patrick McGloin