December 10, 2025

By Father William Muench
NCC columnist

Today, I am praying a prayer I make each year as we enter into Advent and begin to prepare for Christmas. I pray God will bring new life and a new Spirit to our Catholic Church. Advent is a season of longing. We again remember the thousands of years in which Israel longed for a Messiah. Today, many human hearts continue to carry that same longing – a longing for peace, for justice, for mercy and for healing. We again celebrate the coming of our Messiah, Jesus, to transform our Church and our world. May the Spirit of Jesus again come to bring the joy a new life and peace to our Church.

During Advent, we again read the messages of the Old Testament prophets who gave words to their longings then. During the liturgies of Advent, we read again the words of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Micah. They speak again to us “like lamps in the night.” They speak again to as they did to those people of old – who were tired, afraid, exiled, or discouraged. These prophets now speak to us insisting that God has not forgotten His people. Their message is meant for us who now listen. We are hoping again for a new transformation – a new Advent.

Isaiah wrote, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” Isaiah challenged ancient Israel to find that light that conquers darkness, the light that shows the way to live as Jesus taught us. Today, we again must fill the darkness with the light of Jesus so that we may find the Lord’s way. Jesus coms to us again as our Messiah and Savior.

In Advent, the light of God leads us through the darkness. May we bring the light of Jesus to others during this special time of Advent. Advent is a time for transformation or us – again – and for all those we encounter – a new life, a new Spirit.

Micah, the Old Testament prophet, taught that the Messiah would come from tiny Bethlehem. God works through the unexpected, the small, quiet ways. Jesus came to our world in a humble, hidden way. During Advent, we, the People of God, must be transformed. God reaches out to us in small, ordinary ways; we must recognize the presence of our Savior who reaches out to us in this world of ours filled with overwhelming love of the Lord, with Christ’s Christmas love, as we pray in faith and hope. Our world must again become a place of love, peace, mercy, forgiveness that Jesus brought to us. This is our challenge – to bring Jesus’ love to all we meet along the way.

Advent again calls you and I – now – to be the light of the Lord. During Advent, we must be that light that shows the way, that light that enters the darkness that fills so much these days. May your Advent prayer bring Jesus and his love to light up this world, this place where we live.

Advent is a lesson in divine patience. God prepared His people slowly and lovingly, and now again he reaches out to us, bringing us all we need to make our time a time of love and peace. May God form our hearts and fill us with concern for all, all who are part of our families, of our parishes. May he fill us with love so that others may recognize in us God’s love – a love that longs to make our world a better place every day.