Today is the 1st Sunday of Advent and the start of our new liturgical year. In many ways, the meaning of Advent is very different from message we receive from our secular society this time of year. We’ve just celebrated our bountiful Thanksgiving feast; many started their Christmas shopping on “Black Friday;” many are already putting up their Christmas decorations and listening to Christmas carols. In our secular world, the message is of celebrating, eating, shopping, and putting up joyful decorations. However, in our Catholic faith, Advent is all about preparation and waiting and getting ready. As a priest, a big part of Advent for me is going to different parishes and being a part of the Advent reconciliation services, helping the faithful prepare during this Holy season for the coming of our Lord.
Perhaps the Gospel we hear today is not what we expect for the 1st Sunday of Advent. We don’t hear a story about Mary or Joseph or Elizabeth getting us ready for the coming of Jesus, but instead hear a message from Jesus himself from one of the last chapters in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus tells us how the people of Noah’s day were not preparing for what was to come, but, instead they were eating, drinking and having parties. Up to the time of Noah and the great flood, most of the people of Israel didn’t realize what was happening. Jesus recalls this event to alert us to stay awake and to be prepared. What a great message we have today on this 1st Sunday of Advent. Paul brings us a similar message from his letter to the Romans. Paul announces that it is the hour to awaken from our sleep, to throw off the works of darkness, and to put on armor of light. According to Paul, as baptized Christians, we should not complacently go through the mere motions of our faith; instead, we are called to live out our baptismal promises with joy, enthusiasm, and energy.
We prepare for the coming of Jesus with respect to the past, the present, and the future in our Advent preparations. During these holy days of Advent, we recognize how Jesus was present to us in the past, how he arrived in the manager in Bethlehem as the Word of God made flesh to dwell among us. We also recognize Jesus' presence with us in the present day, how he lives in our hearts and in the Body of Christ, the Church, still present here on earth. In addition, in Advent, we place our hope in the future, when Jesus will come again, when the fullness of God’s kingdom will come to fruition.
Today, the one word I would use to characterize this first Sunday of Advent is “hope.” We put our hope in the promise that Jesus gives us in the Gospel today, the promise that he will come again. While we look forward to our Christmas celebrations to come, to brightly wrapped presents under a Christmas tree, to celebrations with family and friends, to good food and good fellowship, and to time away from work and school, that is not to be our primary focus. We focus on Christ – on his coming into the world as a baby into a humble manager, as he enters our hearts to bring renewal and gladness. This Monday, we have the Advent Reconciliation service at 6:00 pm here at St Jude. This Sacrament is a wonderful way to start our preparations for the Advent season, of turning our hearts to God in this special encounter with him. We will have several priests here to hear confessions. We would like to have a wonderful showing of children, youth, and adults to kick off our Advent season with this very meaningful sacrament. Also, this Sunday afternoon, after our Spanish mass concludes as 2:00 pm, we will also have adoration of the blessed sacrament and reconciliation in both Spanish and English as well.
We wait and hope during Advent. We do so actively and with purpose, as our hope is in our Lord, our Savior and Redeemer. May this holy time of preparation during the next 4 weeks of Advent help us on our journey of faith. May it challenge us in the ways we live out our faith. May it provide us a time of renewal and recommitment in the faith we profess.
No comments:
Post a Comment