Happy Liturgical New Year!
To You, O God, I Lift up My Soul
The Church begins the liturgical season of Advent, a time of waiting in hope. As humans it is easier to focus on Jesus’ birth than his Second Coming, but the Advent liturgies insist that the two cannot be separated and we wait for both with equal confidence and joy. With the Universal Church we celebrate Hope in this Jubilee Year, “Pilgrimage of Hope.”
The psalm for this 1st Sunday of Advent, Year C, is brimming with hope, trust and delight. In Psalm 25 the psalmist proclaims that God guides the humble to justice and teaches the humble the divine way of life. The psalm is one of deep longing to know the ways of God and live in God’s covenant. We are called to a practice of waiting within Advent – to live in the here and now while yearning and working for the Kingdom of God in its fullness. Crossing with Hope.
Teach me how to live, O God, show me the way.
Steer me toward your truth, you, my saving God, you , my constant hope.
Good and just is the Holy One, guiding those who stray.
God leads the poor, pointing out the path.
God’s ways are faithful love for those who keep the covenant.
God befriends the faithful, teaches them the covenant.
[verses adapted from The Psalter © 1995, Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications.]