Experiencing God 247 Advent

Today, we begin a new liturgical year.  In the Catholic Church, the first Sunday of Advent is the beginning of a new cycle of readings at our masses, a new cycle of holy days and holidays for roughly the next 365 days.  It’s also the time of year that we are not only called to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, but also to examine our own lives; spiritually speaking to take stock of where we are in respect to our faith.   The readings we have just heard are very conducive for this very purpose.  The theme of these readings is very obvious to all of us.  As St. Paul tells us quite bluntly: “Brothers and Sisters, you know what time it is. It is now the moment for us to wake from our sleep.”  And as Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew: “Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming”. Stay alert, keep awake, be vigilant How does that apply to us this first week of Advent?

Whenever I hear these particular readings about being awake, the story that comes to my mind is the “Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. 

We all know the story well since the movie version is played every year on our TV screens during the Advent season.  Ebenezer Scrooge may be physically awake, but in many other ways he is very much asleep.  Caught up in greed and his distorted perception of success, he is asleep to most things that are important for spiritual health and well-being.  He is driven by his incessant need to accumulate more and more until that moment when Spirit of Christmas future reveals to him the destiny he has created for himself.  And that destiny is a lonely death, an unkempt grave, and the loss of everything that he thought was so important.  And of course, this experience of coming face to face with his own death awakens him to see how much of his whole life has been spent as a prisoner to his own greed. But he has time to change and change he did.  He amends his ways, and moves his life forward in a whole new direction. 

In this story, Dickens greatly exaggerates the contrasts between Scrooge before and Scrooge after to make his point, which he does very well.  Certainly, none of us here falls within the extremes of Scrooge’s selfishness and greed.  But if we are completely honest with ourselves, and reflect carefully on our own lives, we may discover a bit of ourselves in this person of Scrooge; perhaps even that part that often forgets what is really important for our spiritual life as we get caught up in the business of ordinary living. 

This, I believe, is the message that Jesus is trying to convey to his disciples and to us in today’s Gospel. 

 “As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away. So too will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

As we ponder the season of Advent, we can discover that the Lord comes to us quite unexpectedly in three different ways.  As I mentioned before, Advent is principally the time of year that we are called to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus at Christmas.  We engage in and celebrate the birth of Jesus, not only with our family and friends, but also as a faith community.  Here Jesus is revealed as an infant, fragile, humble and poor, born in a stable in Bethlehem. 
 
The second way he comes to us is the way portrayed in today’s Gospel or St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, often referred to as the “end times”, which could also be our own “end time”. It is here that Jesus comes in glory, with strength and victory.  St. Paul tells the Romans: “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.” To be awake is to be aware and prepared as much as we can be for this coming of Christ.

But thirdly, Advent is also that time when we prepare for the coming of Christ in this present moment, to be transformed by His Presence on a daily basis through our prayer, through our participation in the sacraments where He is made visible to us.  It is here that we discover that he comes to comfort those afflicted: Those who may have lost a loved one, those who may be suffering from an illness.  And like Scrooge, it is here as well, in our present time, that we discover he comes also to afflict the comfortable: To remind us that some of our decisions, our way of life may be destructive to our spiritual well-being, that some of our priorities are mixed up.   It is during these times, we can ask ourselves:  Are there areas in my relationships with others; with my spouse, with my children, with my co-workers and friends that need to be changed in some way?  Are there areas in my own life, in my relationship with Christ, in my connection with Church, that need to be enhanced or reprioritized? It is here, in the now, that we are able to discover that Advent is not so much about all the busyness that arises at this time of the year, but it is about rediscovering the Christ who dwells among us, who dwells within us.  And through this indwelling presence, we are able to awaken and see possibilities that come through our faith. We begin to see that the Kingdom of God expresses itself in our acts of generosity towards others, of patience and understanding, in honest and unselfish service, and in the thousands of ways where people are striving and committing their lives for justice and peace.

Isaiah expresses this so vividly in our first reading as he describes a vision which is meant to capture our hearts and give us that hope we all need to live fully in God’s Presence.  “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.  Where swords will be beat into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks, and nation will not life sword against nation.”  It is quite evident that we cannot accomplish this on our own.  It will only come as we invite Jesus into our lives and hearts now, as we turn to God and set our focus on His ways, His truths, and live that as best we can in our own lives now.

In the song, The summons, we hear:

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown?  Will you let my name be known?
Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?