A Homily combining the first two resources

• Advent as a season of Hope:
  • Pope Benedict XVI noted that “Advent is par excellence the season of hope in which believers in Christ are invited to remain in watchful and active waiting, nourished by prayer and by the effective commitment to love.”[1]
  • Many prayers and readings of this season echo themes of hope, as we recall Christ’s coming in history and await his return in glory.
  • The Advent Wreath itself is a symbol of hope, with traditional evergreen branches in many northern countries, and increasing light in the journey to Christmas.
  • Even the Gospel of Luke, which we begin reading as we launch into Year C, has been called the gospel of hope because it stresses the mercy and compassion of Jesus, called “the light to the nations” (2.32) offering salvation to all.

• An epidemic of depression and anxiety in the world
  • The message of hope is one so many people need
  • In 2022 Gallup indicated that people are having more negative and fewer positive experiences
    • Stress, sadness and worry are inching higher worldwide
  • This is compounded in the Northern Hemisphere this time of year
    • As light recedes, the winter blues set in, and many experience seasonal affective disorder
  • Ironically negativity and uncertainly are needed in order to activate hope
  • Contemporary wisdom from the field of positive psychology provides simple practices for infusing hope in our lives, e.g.,
    • setting micro-goals that let you achieve quick results
    • expressing gratitude
    • and finding ways to be kind.
  • Building more long-term hope takes work.
    • John Parsi, executive director of the Hope Center, says: “Hopeful people cannot just wish things into existence.” “Hope requires a person to take responsibility for their wants and desires and take action in working towards them. Optimistic people see the glass as half full, but hopeful people ask how they can fill the glass full.”

• Building Christian Hope
  • Long before positive psychology came along, St. Paul understood how to build hope
    • He begins his Letter to the Thessalonians by expressing gratitude to them
    • He offers words of encouragement
    • He even gives them micro-goals of daily prayer and remembering his instructions to them
  • In Luke’s Gospel Jesus also provides sustained instruction for the hard work of building long term hope
    • Part of that instruction comes to us today
    • About living each day with discipline and attentiveness
    • About building a kind of vigilance which is not just optimism but constructed through daily practices of discipleship

• The Gift of Motivation
  • As darkness increases in so many places literally and figuratively
  • Advent arrives not only as a season of hope, but a moment of and for deep motivation
  • Today’s readings are filled with divine motivation to stay deeply committed and journey together towards hope.
  • As Jeremiah, Paul and Jesus encourage us to be attentive, stay awake, and remain hopeful, they also enjoin us to similarly encourage each other.
  • The journey to God is not a competition, and evidence suggests that competition is not an effective motivating factor
  • Advent is an invitation into the shared work Paul announces: to increase and abound in love for one another and for all.
    • Notice the outward trajectory here, echoed in the language of justice from Jeremiah and the Psalm.
  • Let us encourage each hope
    • By sharing and performing micro-goals (e.g., reread one of the readings at a meal with family or friends)
    • Express gratitude, especially to someone who seems overcome by the winter blues,
    • And be generous in our attention, especially to the overlooked in our lives.

[1] Pope Benedict XVI, The CTS New Sunday Missal (London, 2011), p. 61.