Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Elizabeth Kirkland CahillDecember 21, 2015
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp; with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song; pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness. 
~ Ps 33: 2-3
 

A wise friend of mine has been encouraging me, whenever I tighten up from the pressures or anxieties of life, simply to dance. “Go into a room by yourself where no one can see you,” she says, “put on some lively music, and just let yourself go!”

Our Psalmist today directs us to awaken that same joyful spirit, and to express it extravagantly. “Strike up the band!” he trumpets, “Tune your instruments, give thanks, chant, sing!” There is no holding back in the language of these verses; they crescendo steadily to those “shouts of gladness,” which in Hebrew are the same horn-blasts that brought down Jericho’s walls under Joshua. And there should be no holding back in our hearts, either, as we prepare to welcome Jesus.

But of course our joy is often curtailed, as we feel hemmed in by so many cares and worries. Where I live, today is the winter solstice, a day when darkness seems to have gained the upper hand. All over the world, the lights of humanity, tolerance and peace are flickering, eclipsed by dark forces of violence and injustice. There seems scant reason for joy. But into this distressed, sad world enters the Christ child. He brings healing, he renews our spirits with his love, he proclaims hope to the despairing. And he asks us to emulate the extravagant and life-giving love that led him to dwell among us, enveloping our fretful, imperfect humanity in his perfect divinity. The radiant and joyful presence of Christ was, is, and shall again be with us. Let us rejoice and be glad!

Loving God, Illuminate the dark corners of the world, bringing the joy of your presence into every human heart. Amen.

For today’s readings, click here.

You can access the complete collection of the Advent 2015 Reflection Series here.

If you would like to receive these reflections via a daily e-mail, contact Elizabeth Kirkland Cahill at ecahill27@yahoo.com.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican as they join him for the recitation of the Angelus prayer and an appeal for peace hours after the U.S. bombed nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran on June 22. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
“Let diplomacy silence the guns!” Pope Leo XIV told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square a few hours after the United States entered the Iran-Israel war by bombing three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
Gerard O’ConnellJune 22, 2025
Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool during the pope's meeting with members of the media on May 12 in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo XIV’s statement was read at the premiere of a play about the Peruvian investigative journalist Paola Ugaz, who was subject to death threats because of her reporting on sexual abuse.
Gerard O’ConnellJune 21, 2025
Bishop Micheal Pham, center, leads an inter-faith group as they enter a federal building to be present during immigration hearings on June 20 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
About a dozen religious leaders from the San Diego area, including Bishop Michael Pham, visited federal immigration court on Friday “to provide some sense of presence.”
In a time of increasing disaffiliation from and disillusionment with the institutional church, a new theological perspective on the church is needed—one that places Jesus’ own teaching at the center.
Roger Haight, S.J.June 20, 2025