FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
This Sunday marks the beginning of a new liturgical calendar in the Church. In the secular world, we start the year with the celebration of the New Year on the first of January, while the Church enters into a new liturgical year with the celebration of Advent. Advent, from the Latin word Adventus which means “coming”, is a season of waiting or a joyful expectation for the coming of Christ. It calls to mind the first coming of Christ more than two thousand years ago but, at the same time, it also highlights our own preparation for his second coming. Our own lives are in many ways are shaped like Advent. Why do we hide our Christmas presents before the 25th of December from those whom we would be giving them? Sometimes by October, we have already purchased gifts for Christmas after attending one bazaar after another, but we hide them because we want our loved ones to be surprised for the gift that we are going to give. There is a huge value in waiting, patiently waiting for that day when the gifts would make more sense. That’s part of the thrill. Going a little bit deeper, the same thing works with our faith in this season of Advent. Why can’t we celebrate Christmas right away and not go through Advent? We can’t celebrate Christmas without going through Advent because we need to prepare the homes of our very being to be the new mangers of Christ; we need to make sure that our hearts are set right, getting rid of all the clutter and mess that would render us unfit to receive the most important visitor that we will receive this Christmas, Jesus. This is the reason why waiting is important, but this waiting is not characterized by passivity but, rather, it is an active form of waiting – which means actively searching for ways to make our own lives, our own hearts truly a worthy manger of Jesus. Why did it take God so long to send his Son Jesus to redeem humanity? It took thousands of years and, in that time, God was slowly preparing his people to receive the most important revelation or gift that he was willing to give, his very Son. There was a hiddenness about the incredible plan of God in Jesus Christ. The revelation of salvation in Christ did not allow for anything hurried, rushed or premature. Our sinful and weak human nature, however, tends to be the opposite. The more advances we seem to make through technology and science, the shorter span of tolerance we have for patience and mystery and God’s hiddenness. We want our things yesterday.
Yes, God reveals slowly, and sometimes painfully so. That is why the Church has liturgical seasons to mirror life, so that we can relate this to our own lives in a very real way. If one really thinks about it, the celebrations of the Sacraments are indeed a slow revelation of God’s plan for each one of us. Each time we participate actively at the
Eucharist, when we make that intrinsic connection with God in such a real way, he reveals a little more of his love for us. Each time we truly enter into the mercy of God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we touch a little more the tenderness of the one who is mercy himself. The same goes for when one is infirm and receives an anointing. It’s
never going to be a full and final encounter while we are still here on earth. It’s a slow revelation because it is a revelation of love. I am certain that married couples who are deeply in love know this. They want to show just how deeply they love one another, but they also do know that there is a limit to their ability to show this in any outward way. So they try over and over in creative ways that hopefully say what is in their hearts and minds. Woe be the day that they give up and take one another for granted. The mystery is lost, and the hiddenness is given up. I remember when I learned that I would be assigned to Forest Grove, a few years ago, the first thing that I did was to read
everything that I found on the internet about the place, but a priest-mentor reminded me right away – that I should not be too anxious about knowing what the community is like. He told me that I would get to know the community slowly as I journey with the community, as I live with the faith family each day, as I laugh with the people, as I
celebrate with them their joyous occasions like baptisms, graduations, first communion, the new birth of a child, but also during sorrowful and difficult moments like the sudden death of a loved one or out of nowhere diagnosis of a debilitating disease. It’s a slow process, but a necessary one so that gift of self is truly respected and honored. A
pregnant woman may be eager to see her unborn child and can't wait to hold her baby in her arms earlier, yet her joy and excitement may be replaced with fear and anxiety if the baby really arrives prematurely & needs medical care. Or a young couple may think it's okay to have premarital relations since they are so much in love, but they totally miss the point of physical intimacy or love as a total self-giving within marriage, and hence miss out on the anticipation and poignancy of consummation had they waited till they were married before the witness of God and the community.
What is there to reflect and ponder at Advent for you? Plenty. You know you’d be fudging the truth if you say that there is nothing that you are anticipating in life, waiting for, hoping for, longing for and having some desire for. Perhaps it is a doctor’s report, a response from a loved one, a change or conversion in either yourself or someone dear to you, a result of a job application, etc. We can use this time of Advent to enter into that waiting as the Church waits for Christmas in the Advent period. When we do this, our Sunday celebrations at Mass will be so much more connected with our daily living, and you will live and pray differently. Let this Advent be a time for us “to labor”
with Mary, as we anticipate his coming once again in our hearts. – Fr. Cary