(Note: Henceforth, most of my Sunday Reflections will first be published at the excellent and popular site PJ Media, as will occasional other reports or essays of mine pertaining to faith. I am delighted to be affiliated with them. This is the first of my PJ Media pieces.)
The second Sunday of Advent this year coincides with the first day of Hanukkah. As I have written before, the Jewish “Festival of Lights” has some serious thematic parallels with Advent’s happy message of a new light coming to the world, a light unto both Gentiles and Jews alike. And this week both Catholics and many mainline Protestants will read, as their Old Testament lesson, Baruch 5:1-9, which ends with “God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.”
The metaphor of “light” is, however, far from the only parallel, spiritually speaking, between Hanukkah and Advent….
The whole essay is here. I hope you enjoy it. Come, light of the world.
