
Bishop Myron J. Cotta, D.D Monthly Reflection
by Bishop Myron J. Cotta, D.D | 12/22/2024 | From the ClergyHappy Advent! This season of waiting and preparation is just what we need in order to joyfully welcome the Lord at Christmas. In Holy Scripture we hear of - “a just shoot” - a tender shoot sprouting, rising, promising new life. Jesus is the true “just shoot.” In the midst of all the busyness, we are invited to embrace a sense of peaceful waiting and joyful expectation during the season of Advent. We are called to “prepare the way of the Lord” deep within our hearts.
Jesus, the “just shoot,” can give us the grace and mercy to acknowledge our sinfulness and our anxieties and to bring them to him for healing and forgiveness as we prepare for his coming. Let us place our trust in Jesus throughout this Advent Season. Let us meet him wherever we are in life, and may we be led to experience a more profound sense of surrender as we prepare for Christmas! This fundamental sense of surrender is necessary as we prepare and remember Jesus’ his first coming at Christmas and anticipate his promised Second Coming! In order to surrender, we must prayerfully and joyfully desire that “God’s will be done” and not ours’. Recently, I was reminded of this when I came across a reflection on the need to prepare for Advent. The reflection entitled: “Waiting on God with a Surrendered Heart,” posed the following question: “So how do we get to that place of surrender?” It went on to explain: “It begins with our first yes to the Lord, the first time we intentionally give our lives to him and decide to follow him. At that moment, we might be fearful, not knowing what the Lord will ask of us or what we will have to face. But as we experience his love for us, and our love for him grows, we are better able to hand over to him control of our lives. That’s because we have learned to trust him and have become more confident that he knows what’s best for us even when something doesn’t seem to make sense to us.” This act of surrender begs us to reflect on Mary’s great surrender - her fiat. It is her fiat that sets the tone for the season of Advent. She is our model. Her role is always to help us prepare for the coming of the Lord. Her surrendering to God’s will throughout her life was not easy. We know that her most difficult moment of surrender was on Good Friday as she stood at the foot of the cross and witnessed Jesus’ suffering and death on Mount Calvary. But her perseverance, and her trust in God and his promises, resulted in the joy of being reunited with her glorified and risen Son on Easter Sunday! Promises given! Promises fulfilled! That is the way of Our Merciful God and Father! He has not abandoned us. He continues to offer us peace and reconciliation found in the Gift - his Son, the “just shoot,” promising life - eternal life! So, brothers and sisters, let us await the Coming of the Lord with a surrendered heart. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!
Wishing, one and all, a grace-filled Advent Season
Bishop Cotta
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