This weekend, Christians all over the world begin the holy season of Advent, a time of preparation and purification, as our Church prepares for the annual celebration of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago. However, besides preparing for the coming of baby Jesus into the world in that humble manger, this season is also a time when we prepare for another coming of Jesus: when Jesus will come again in the end times. Jesus addresses this in our Gospel today, telling us that the Son of Man will come in a cloud with power and great glory. Jesus advises us that as his disciples, we must be prepared for this second coming. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI clarifies this aspect of the First Sunday of Advent: “While our hearts look forward to the annual celebration of Christ’s Birth, the Church’s Liturgy directs our gaze to the final goal: our encounter with the Lord who will come in the splendor of glory.”
But how do we balance this diverse reality of Advent: Jesus coming into our lives at Christmas and Jesus coming again at the end times in glory? How do we prepare for these two comings in the busy reality of our lives, because we all know that is a very busy season of the year with so much to do. We recall a historical event in our preparations and we prepare for a future event, in which space and time as we know them will come to an end. Perhaps the Eucharist provides the key to how we are to prepare. This is good to know as we start our celebration of the Year of the Eucharist in our Diocese. The presence of the Eucharist in our lives of faith helps us recall what Jesus told his followers: “I will not leave you orphans.” As we reflect upon the Eucharist, we also recall how two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus saw and encountered the risen Jesus in the breaking of the bread. It was in the act of the breaking of the bread that they were able to recognize the risen Christ whom that he met on the road. In fact, the expression, “the breaking of the bread,” was an early expression for what we now call the Eucharist or the Mass. Another early word for the Eucharist was “the parousia.” In theology today, the word parousia refers to the Second Coming. However, in the early Church, parousia was a title for the Eucharist since the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist was seen as intimately connected with his presence at his second coming. So, in the Eucharist, we see the intersection between the continuation of the Lord’s first coming, of Jesus’ incarnation in his birth in a manger in Bethlehem, and our important preparation for his second coming.
Our prayers in our Mass demonstrate so many different aspects of our faith. We can look at the embolism prayer, which follows right after the Lord’s Prayer in the Communion Rite. In fact, historians of the liturgy point out that the embolism prayer started as an early Advent prayer in the Christian liturgy. This prayer in our Mass states: "Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” This prayer asks for the continued presence of the Lord in keeping us safe, but it also expresses the hope of the Lord’s return. We can see how this prayer is both fitting for the Communion Rite of the liturgy, but also how it was appropriate as a prayer specifically for the Advent season.
Our celebration of the Eucharist in the Mass takes place in between Christ’s first coming and his return, a reality that help us better understand the reality of our liturgies. Our Mass teaches us gratitude and expectation, as well as to wait in holiness and patience for the second coming of the Lord. In our awareness that the Mass exists between time and eternity, and as we pray at Mass during this holy season of preparation, may we both feel and acknowledge the presence, power, and providence of God. There can be no greater Advent preparation, than a deeper love and appreciation for the Breaking of the Bread, the parousia, the Eucharist, the beautiful and amazing Mass that we celebrate together as a community of faith.
I also want to connect our reflections on stewardship these past few weeks to the beginning of the Advent season. Like the way we are called to prepare for the coming of Christ during Advent, the stewardship of our life of faith begins with the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. As seeing all of creation and all that we have as gifts from God, we are to see ourselves as good stewards of those gifts. God calls us to give and to share what we have with joyful hearts, to find peace and happiness in the way we are stewards of our gifts, of God’s creation, and of our life of faith. Out of our life of stewardship, God calls us to have an intentional plan of how we give back to God and to our brothers and sisters a portion of our time, our gifts, and our possessions, to do so consistently, and to do so in a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving. I hope that you have enjoyed reflecting on stewardship these past several weekend. I have enjoyed doing so with all of you. Let us close with a prayer for Advent:
Lord God, we adore you because you have come to us in the past. You have spoken to us in the Law of Israel. You have challenged us in the words of the prophets. You have shown us in Jesus what you are really like.
Lord God, we adore you because you still come to us today. You come to us through other people and their love and concern for us. You come to us through men and women who need our help. You come to us as we worship you with your people. You come to us in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
Lord God, we adore you because you will come to us in the end times. You will be with us at the hour of our death. You will still reign supreme when all human institutions fail. You will still be God when our history has run its course.
We welcome you, the God who comes in the baby Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem and the God who will come again in glory. Come to us now in the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.
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