Advent Archive of Scripture Reflections for Homilies, Group Discussion, and Personal Prayer

Advent is just around the corner. It begins on Sunday, December 1st.  New Ways Ministry will be presenting four reflections from Latinx Catholics on each of the four Sundays of the liturgical season.  We have been providing regular Advent Sunday reflections since 2013. 

Every year we receive requests from pastoral ministers, homilists, spiritual directors, and others for a “sneak peek” at the Advent reflections to help them prepare talks, prayers, discussions that have an LGBTQ+ dimension to them.

While we can’t reveal this year’s posts just yet, we do have quite an archive of posts dating back over the past 13 years of the blog, so all three Sunday liturgical cycles are covered multiple times, providing multiple perspectives. 

Today, we are making these Advent reflections available in this blog post to help people prepare any Advent talks or prayer experiences they may be preparing.   The reflections can also serve for individual prayer, reflection, and journaling for anyone.  

Beginning in 2025, we will be offering a catalog of past reflections from our archives for the next month’s Sunday readings.  So, the archives for January 2025 will be posted at the end of December 2024.  As we make these posts available on the blog, we will also be archiving them on our website, so that eventually reflections for the Sunday readings of all three liturgical cycles–A, B, C– will be permanently available to pastoral ministers and individual Catholics. 

We hope this resource is helpful to all. We welcome your feedback.

In addition to the personal reflection essays, we also have the scripture reflection exercises for each Advent Sunday, which are part of the Journeys series, New Ways Ministry’s online LGBTQ+ scripture reflections.  These exercises are designed for group and individual discernment.  They will be marked in boldface in the list below. 

Finally, the last section in the list are posts which reflect on Advent themes in a general way from LGBTQ+ perspectives. These posts are italicized.

When Advent begins on December 1st, the liturgical readings will be from the Year C cycle, so these readings are listed first, followed by Year A and Year B.

YEAR C  

(From 2021)

First Sunday: As We Enter Advent, Recalling How We Are Knit in the Womb

Second Sunday: Raising Our Voices in the Wilderness

Third Sunday: And We? What Should We Do?

Fourth Sunday: The Courage to Choose

 

(From 2018)

First Sunday: ‘Stand Erect and Raise Your Hands Because Your Redemption Is at Hand’ 

Second Sunday: The Return of the Exiles 

Third Sunday: From Despair to Hope, From Fear to Joy

Fourth Sunday:  Mary, Elizabeth, and the LGBT Family

 

(From 2015)

First Sunday: Standing Erect in the Face of Catastrophes-Cosmic and Otherwise

Second Sunday – Why Does God Call John the Baptist and Other Nobodies?

Third Sunday; What Would John the Baptist Say to Church Leaders Today?

Fourth Sunday:  God Has Prepared Unimaginable Surprises for Us!

YEAR A

 

(From 2016)

First Sunday: The Wolf and the Lamb: Coming Out and the Promises of Advent

Second Sunday: Might This Be Joy: LGBTQ People’s Witness to Audacious Love

Third Sunday: A Voice in the Desert Crying Out: Reflections for Advent 

Fourth Sunday:  A Woman of Courage Brings Emmanuel, “God With Us” 

 

(From 2013)

First Sunday: Are You Ready to Rejoice?

Second Sunday: Choosing Between Mercy and Judgment

Third Sunday: Patiently Waiting for the Desert to Bloom With Abundant Flowers

Fourth Sunday: Jesus Calls Us Just As We Are–Wrinkles, Warts, and All

 

YEAR B

(From 2023)

First Sunday: “Ready or Not, Here I Come!” 

Second Sunday: John the Baptist’s Inherently Queer Mission

Third Sunday:  Rejoice: It’s Realistic, Radical, and Revolutionary

Fourth Sunday: Open to God’s surprising Incarnations

 

(From 2020)

First Sunday: Lessons from the Fig Tree

Second Sunday: The Man Who Pointed to Christ

Third Sunday: Oaks of Righteousness 

Fourth SundayThe Woman Who Said Yes to God

 

(From 2017)

First Sunday: Beacons of Patience and Hope: A Queer Advent Journey with the Holy Family

Second Sunday: On Being a Hero: Reflections for Advent

Third Sunday: A Voice in the Desert Crying Out: Reflections for Advent

Fourth Sunday: “Graciously in the Presence of Our Neighbor”: Reflections for Advent 

 

(From 2014)

First Sunday: Without An Experience of Extravagant Love, We Have No Hope to Become Better

Second Sunday: John the Baptist As a Woman in a Red Dress

Third Sunday: John the Baptist’s Humble Example for LGBT Folks

Fourth Sunday:  “Nothing will be impossible for God” 

Advent Scripture Reflection Exercises from Journeys, New Ways Ministry’s Online LGBTQ+ Scripture Exercises

Year A

Up to the Mountain – Isaiah 2:1-5 (1st Sunday)

Down to the Roots – Isaiah 11:1-10 (2nd Sunday)

Out to the Desert – Isaiah 35: 1-6a, 10 (3rd Sunday)

Into Your Home – Matthew 1:18-24 (4th Sunday)

 

Year B 

Lessons from the Fig Tree – Mark 13:24-37 (1st Sunday)

The Man Who Pointed to Christ – Mark 1:1-8 (2nd Sunday)

Oaks of Righteousness – Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8, 10-11 (3rd Sunday)

The Woman Who Said Yes to God – Luke 1:26-38 (4th Sunday)

 

Year C

The Second Coming of Jesus – Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 (1st Sunday)

The People of God in Exile – Luke 3:1-6 (2nd Sunday)

Wear the Color Pink and Rejoice – Zeph 5:1-4a; Luke 3:10-18 (3rd Sunday)

The Visitation: Family Stories and Traditions – Luke 1:39-45 (4th Sunday)

Some General Reflections on the Advent Season

In 2019, we asked readers to reflect on individual passages from the prophet Isaiah, instead of on the particular Advent Sunday readings for Year A. The following are their contributions:

First Sunday: The People Who Walked in Darkness Have Seen a Great Light 

Second Sunday: Happy Are All Who Wait for God!

Third Sunday: Queer Scriptures for Advent’s Third Sunday

Fourth Sunday: The Glory of God Shall Be Revealed-And All Will See It Together!

 

The following are general Advent reflection posts:

This Advent, Staking Everything on World Without Anti-LGBTQ+ Violence 

Like Advent, Transgender Catholic Writes of “Uncertainty and Waiting” In Gender Journey

Jesus, The Man of Sorrows, Welcomes Outcasts in Advent, Writes Gay Catholic

Theologians’ Call for Listening Offers Renewed Advent Hope, Writes Transgender Catholic 

In Advent Lessons, Bishops Reflect on Waiting, Flesh, and Facts

 

—Francis DeBernardo and Bernadette Donlon, New Ways Ministry, November 25, 2024