A Precious Blood Advent, 2nd Sunday

by Sr. Joyce Ann Zimmerman, CPPS

Second Sunday of Advent: Matt 31:1-12

December 8, 2019

Last week’s gospel had us looking to the future for Christ’s Second Coming. This week’s gospel has John the Baptist calling us to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Which is it: future, or at hand? Well, both! On the one hand, we look forward to the final consummation of all things at Jesus’ Second Coming. On the other hand, because Jesus is among us, we are already living in the “end times.” How so? As John said, when the “kingdom of heaven is at hand.” When so? When we do God’s will, when we “make straight” the path of Gospel living in our daily lives, when we repent of anything that weakens our relationship with God.

The Eucharist is a pillar of the Precious Blood Spirituality of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. Our Mother Foundress, Maria Anna Brunner, had a deep devotion to the Eucharist which she expressed through Eucharistic adoration. We Sisters actively keep this tradition of Eucharistic adoration. Furthermore, since Eucharist is a sacrament of reconciliation, our Eucharistic praying calls us to repentance. Our Eucharistic devotion marks us as those who heed John the Baptist’s call to repent. It marks us as those who cry out in the desert to others to make straight a path in their life’s journey to God. It is the source of the “good fruit” we produce through our prayer and ministry. During this Advent, how am I growing in my appreciation for Eucharist and how do I show this in my daily living?