Today’s response to the Psalm is “Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.”

Readings for today: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121424.cfm 

By Veronica Mosher 

 St. John of the Cross 

 Today’s response to the Psalm is “Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.” I’m imagining seeing the face of the Lord. What a wonderful feeling of love and peace comes over me! 

 How will I come to see His face? I can prepare little by little each day in Advent as I focus on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love. Liturgical prayers, reflections, readings, and celebrations will help me come closer to Him. 

 Advent can be a busy season. Making a commitment is my first stop in transforming my prayer life and coming closer to seeing His face. My prayer is that I learn to surrender to God and acknowledge my needs to help bring me to a powerful encounter with Him. 

 Can you make an Advent commitment to help you come closer to seeing the Lord’s face? What will that be? 

 My prayer: O Lord, help me to live this day in eternal hope knowing Jesus will come. 

Veronica Mosher has been a parishioner of St. Anne for 35 years. She served, at various times, on the Parish Council, as a Eucharistic Minister and lector, and helped with many fundraisers. She and her husband Gil of 56 years, have 2 wonderful daughters. 

 My quest for holiday joy began in the aisles of Dillard’s, searching for the perfect Christmas gift for my daughter.

Readings for today: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121324.cfm 

By Sharon Hinkebein 

 My quest for holiday joy began in the aisles of Dillard’s, searching for the perfect Christmas gift for my daughter. Clueless as to what to buy her, I stared at the wall of clothes before me hoping an elf would throw down the perfect shirt into my desperate, open hands. Any joy here?  Hardly. Next, I moved on to holiday baking, attempting to make Martha Stewart’s “best ever” sugar cookies. Three hours later I produced cookies that could be used as hockey pucks by the Tampa Lightning. Any joy here? I think you know the answer. 

 Finally, I propped up my feet for a much-needed break listening to Bing’s classic, “White Christmas”. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas (I need to pick up some ornaments) just like the ones I used to know” (and I need to pick up a string of lights too). Sigh. 

   Today’s Gospel is about people just like me searching for joy. They look for it in food, drink, children playing melodies – all fine things indeed – but things only capable of providing short-lived moments of pleasure. O Lord of wisdom, when will we ever learn that the more secular things we pile into our lives the less unending joy we will have? 

 So exactly what does joy look like? I suppose it’s different for everyone, but one thing is for certain – we can only find it when we are willing to walk in the footsteps of the Lord. Do you have a neighbor or co-worker that steps on your every nerve? Then joy is finding patience and understanding in your disdain. Are you devoted to a political party? Then joy is finding common ground with the other side. Have conversations with family members become a battleground? Perhaps it’s time to lay down weapons of criticism and surrender to words of praise and acts of love.   

 Martha, I know this will make you cringe but I’m now a Pillsbury slice-and-bake cookie gal, greatly reducing my time dedicated to baking. With the extra time I have found joy and unexpected peace in prayer and conversation with the Lord. He’s shared with me that the joy He offers requires faith, trust, courage, and sacrifice. Is it worth it? Jesus says it is and that’s all I need to know.   

 Sharon Hinkebein has been a parishioner at St. Anne for nearly 12 years after moving here from Missouri. As a part-time employee at St. Anne, she compiles and edits the weekly bulletin, and volunteers as a faith formation teacher for middle school confirmation.