First Sunday of Advent

December 1, 2024

December 1, 2024

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December 1, 2024

First Sunday of Advent

Valerie D.

Valerie D.

Lewis-Mosley, RN, OPA

Lewis-Mosley, RN, OPA

Advent is the season that we engage in reflection, prayer, and spiritual preparation and the traditions of the faith. This time of preparation and anticipation is the journey toward the celebration of the Christmas event. The four Sundays preceding Christmas – Catholic Christians and our sister churches emphasize the theological themes of hope, peace, joy and love. These spiritual exercises help us to prepare our hearts, minds, and our spirits for the encounter with the reason for the season- Jesus.  

The Christmas event is the recalling of the Incarnation of Emmanuel God with us!  

As we journey through this Advent season of 2024 – this liturgical calendar year is a gift to me. It is providing the spiritual reminder that my hope is based on nothing less than Jesus Christ, our righteousness. The readings for this First Sunday of Advent – remind me that it is the righteousness of God that I seek.  A common aphorism chanted during these days of anticipation and on Christmas Cards is that wise men and wise women still seek Him.

The past several weeks leading up to this current Advent season had me troubled in mind, body and spirit and even faint of heart. It seemed that the people and the world all around me were walking in darkness, almost in a state of hopelessness. The social sphere and the signs of war, natural calamity and political unrest overshadowed the truth and justice. The deafening silence of those called to be committed to the truth seemed to overshadow the need for the Proclamation of the Kerygma. I had allowed myself to become drowsy from the anxieties of this world of confusion.

It is today’s Scripture “The Lord Our Justice” that has renewed my strength and hope. A spirit of Tsidkenu has been the encouragement to lift my drooping hands and weak knees to continue to run the race in faith. To lift my hands in prayer and praise and to stand up from praying knees and to put the faith of the ancestors that Great Cloud of Witnesses into action. Tsidkenu is a word that speaks of God’s Righteousness. It also describes the God of Righteousness as the God of Justice.

It is this hope that I have this First Sunday of Advent- a hope in the God who is righteousness and who is justice, Perfected Justice. My spirit was crushed for many weeks and I realize that we must keep our spirits centered in the things of God not the things of man. The hope that does not disappoint (Romans 5:5) is the hope in the Just God- which is steadfast and unwavering hope. It is a hope that is centered in the trust and faith in the Christmas promise - Emmanuel, God with us. It is this Blessed Assurance- that our hope in Christ is never in vain. Even in the midst of challenges and uncertainties of this world and all the social upheaval- we have a safe harbor- in the Spirit of a God who is Tsidkenu.  

This Advent Seek First the Kindom of God- and God’s Righteousness and the justice which is coupled to righteousness will follow. When we seek a life centered in abiding in God’s way, we are walking humbly with God. It is then that God guides the humble to justice and teaches us in the way of truth.

So, I sing, Yahweh Tsidkenu I know you are near, standing always at my side. You guard me from the foe, and you lead me in ways everlasting. Surely you are a God of Righteousness and God of Justice, Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus

First Reading

Jer 33:14-16

PSALM

Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

Second Reading

1 Thes 3:12—4:2

GOSPEL

Lk 21:25-28, 34-36
Read texts at usccb.org

Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley, RN, OPA

Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley, RN, OPA


Doctor of Ministry:  Healer, Scholar, Pastoral Theologian and Social Justice Advocate

Dr. Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley is an alumna of Boston College School of Nursing (BSN 1979), Seton Hall University School of Law (MSJ - Health Law 2006), Seton Hall University School of Theology – Immaculate Conception Seminary (MAPM -Christian Spirituality/Spiritual Direction 2011) and Drew Theological School (Doctor of Ministry - Practicing Healing Mind Body Spirit 2015). Valerie has graduate studies in Nursing Leadership from New York University. She is also a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana-Institute for Black Catholic Studies (2002) with a certification as a Master Catechist in the Catholic Church. She also has doctrinal certification from the Archdiocese of Newark where she has served in ministry for over thirty years. She serves the Archdiocese of Newark on the Advisory Board for the African-American African and Caribbean Apostolate. As well she has presented lectures at the Deanery on racism and the Pastoral Letter Open Wide Our Hearts.

She is the retired Director of Religious Education at the Church of Christ the King - Jersey City, New Jersey, a historical Black Catholic Parish an Apostolate for Evangelization in the African American community. She serves in various capacities across the nation as a mentor to youth and young adults; evangelist, retreat leader and revivalist and public speaker, life coach and Spiritual Director. Catechesis to children and youth and women’s spirituality and empowerment are a major component of her ministry as a pastoral associate. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Theology at Caldwell University, Caldwell, New Jersey, and Xavier University of Louisiana Institute for Black Catholic Studies. Valerie is a member of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium. She belongs to various International Honor Societies and is a Silver Life member of the NAACP. She is a Lady of the Confraternity of the Knights of St. Peter Claver.

Valerie is retired from clinical practice at the New York Hospital-Weill Cornell University Medical Center. Her specialty area was in High Risk/Tertiary Care Obstetrics- Women and Children’s Health where she served as the Senior Staff Clinical Nurse, Unit Preceptor, and Quality Assurance Committee Representative, and Interim Administrative Nurse Recruiter.

She is an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion and a Lector. She has served as a minister on the Pre-Cana team preparing couples for the Sacrament of Matrimony. She serves the Church as a Lay Associate Order of Preachers (OPA) The Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, New Jersey. It is her mission” To Praise, To Bless, To Preach” the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her life models the spirituality of the Dominican and Jesuit charism. Black Catholic Spirituality and Catholic Social Justice Teaching are premiere in her use of culture and faith to authentically evangelize. She is the recipient of the Caldwell Dominican Peace Award for 2022.

Valerie has contributed several articles in various Liturgical Magazines and Scripture reflections in Ministry Publications. She is a consultant and contributing writer for The Hallelujah People: Eat the Scroll Ministry. She is an Aquinas Institute of Theology- Delaplane Preaching Scholar of the 2022 Writing Cohort - Preaching Racial Justice: Challenge and Journey. The project is funded by the Lilly Foundation and will be published by Orbis Books. She is a contributing writer in Religion, Women of Color, and the Suffrage Movement: The Journey to Holistic Freedom, Does Christian Catechesis Have a Gender Problem? Toward a Catechesis of Wholeness (2022) Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

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