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The End is the Beginning

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Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday is the third Sunday of the Advent Season. It is a Sunday of transition in the season as the liturgical color changes  for the week from violet to rose and the focus changes from looking forward to the Second Coming of Jesus to preparing to celebrate his first coming. Before moving on to the second half of Advent, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the first two weeks of the season.   Advent is a time when we remember the Incarnation and prepare to celebrate Christmas, but it is also a time to remember that Christ will come again. The readings in the mass for the first two weeks focus our attention on our mortality, the return of Jesus, and the Kingdom to come. I attended two different parishes during the first two weeks of Advent. Both Sundays the priest’s homily was rightly focused on these themes of remembering our end, and the end of the world. Both homilies were very good, yet both priests approached the idea of the end of our lives and the e