12/10/12 – Advent reconciliation service – 1 John 1:5-2:2, John 12:31-36, Psalm 27 -

      Light is a common theme in all of our readings today.  As we come together to celebrate a communal reconciliation service as a part of our period of preparation during Advent, we can think about how we light the candles on the Advent wreath to mark the passing of the days during this holy season of preparation.  When we finally reach Christmas, we see lights displayed everywhere – on Christmas trees, and lighting up houses and windows.  These lights represent the reality that Christ was born as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem in order to be the light of the world.

       The light of Christ enters our lives when we are baptized, and we are symbolically given a baptismal candle that is lighted from the Easter candle to represent the light of Christ that enters our lives.  At the Easter vigil mass, the entire Church is lit up with candles lit from that same Easter candle as a wonderful sign of the light of Christ we are called to be as the Church and as followers of Jesus. 

       Yet, when we sin, when darkness enters our lives, when the relationships we have with God and with others are broken or strained, the light of Christ is diminished in our lives.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation is here to help us restore that light.

       This season of preparation during Advent is very busy for all of us.  Students are winding down the semester, and are involved in many different acitivities. Adults are not only caught up in the busy nature of their daily lives, but in the busy holiday activities as well.  However, Advent is also a time of conversion and preparation, a time when we can look at our life of faith in a fresh and new way.  May we see Advent and this community service of reconciliation today as a holy time of renewal for us, a time where the light of Christ can be celebrated in our lives, a light that will take away the darnkness, a light that will signify the strong presence that Christ and the Church have in our lives.

       In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us to keep faith in the light while we have the light, that we may become sons and daughters of the light.  May the healing and grace that we receive from this communal service of reconciliation and the Sacrament of Reconciliation reinforce our identity as sons and daughters of the light.  May we bring this light to others.