All Things New: The Promise of Advent, Christmas and the New Year

Do not dwell on the things of the past or consider events of long ago. Pay attention - I am doing something new! It’s happening right now. Don’t you see it?” These words from Isaiah proclaim the central message of Advent and the Christmas season: Be attentive to the new things happening around you; don’t get trapped in old recriminations. God invites us to live now and hope for what still can be. Gerald O’Collins has written this lovely reflection on Advent, Christmas and the New Year as a way of reflecting on the realm of God, which is constantly being renewed. Through the use of stories from the Bible and contemporary life, he draws our attention to a new liberation going on in our midst, a liberation even more astonishing than Israel’s escape from Egypt. He comments on the unique message each of the four gospels offers for Advent and Christmas, and he connects those seasons to what he calls the “fifth gospel” of the prophet Isaiah.