Reflection for First Sunday of Advent
Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen. (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 – Second Reading of First Sunday of advent 2012) Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia recently wrote a very insightful article for First Things about the challenges facing the Church in America today. He was reflecting on the troubling trends, especially among youth and young adults and their attitudes towards religion in general and Catholicism in particular. Indeed there are many issues and obstacles the Church must face as we move forward in the years to come. We are still reeling from the sex abuse scandals of the clergy while the laity continues to ignore the Church’s teachings about sexuality and the human person. As secular humanism grows the Church is finding its