Most of you probably know what this is - it is an Advent calendar. When my siblings and I were growing up, my mom used to have a new Advent calendar for us each year, and we would open the little square for the day when we were eating breakfast together before we went off to school. There would be a little Bible verse for the day on the Advent calendar helping us get ready for Christmas. For example, the square for this day has a picture of a little crown, with the phrase from the 2nd chapter of Matthew, “Where is the child who was born the King of the Jews?” My mom was really big in the Advent tradition of an Advent calendar, which makes sense to me now, since I have learned that the Advent calendar started as a tradition in Germany around the year 1900. My mom grew up in a German immigrant neighborhood in Chicago, so she grew up with that tradition. We loved our Advent tradition every morning before we went to school. The Advent calendar and other traditions we have in Advent, such as the lighting of the candles on the Advent wreath, help us count the days and helps us prepare during this holy season right before Christmas. The word “Advent” comes from a Latin word, “Adventus,” which means “coming.” As a season of preparation, we look forward and wait for something greater than us this time of the year. During Advent, the Church asks us to do three things:
First - in Advent, we prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord into the world at Christmas time, for the coming of God made incarnate in the form of baby Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem.
Second - in Advent, we prepare ourselves so that our lives may be a fitting place to receive the Eucharist and to receive God’s grace - so that those things working within us may affect transformation, healing, and renewal.
Third - in Advent - we make ourselves ready for Christ’s final judgment - both at the hour of our death and at the end of the world as well.
This strange character named John the Baptist enters our lives each year during the Advent season. The Jewish historian, Josephus, who wrote in the first century, said that John the Baptist…” was a good man and had exhorted the Jews to lead righteous lives, to practice justice towards their fellow man and piety towards God, and so doing, join in baptism. . .” We know from the Gospels that John the Baptist was a prophet on fire with a very fiery message: ”Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." Israel had a long line of prophets, but John was the first prophet to appear in 400 years. The whole message of John the Baptist can be summed up in the words from the Gospel of Matthew of the voice crying out in the desert wilderness - “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” The first generation of Christians saw John as the one preparing the way for Jesus in the world. John’s message and our Church’s message of God’s holy word still call out to us today.
I think we hear this Gospel message of repentance and we can become overwhelmed. We can think about so many things we want to change in our lives, in the lives of our loved ones, in the reality of the world. But if we could change one thing in our lives of faith - one thing that would affect our life of faith - what would that be? I know a lot of people mention to me that the lack of patience and getting upset at things so easily is one thing they struggle with in their lives. The next time someone cuts us off in traffic in Gloster Street and we want to say a bad word we shouldn’t say, maybe we could say a Hail Mary and pray for that person and offer it up to God, or even let a person enter in front of us when the cars are backed up in a traffic jam. Maybe we could think of a kind word or a hug or a surprise cup of coffee to give our spouse or friend or co-worker, even on a day when we are frustrated and angry. Think of one thing that could answer John the Baptist’s call for repentance in our lives - and try to work on that one thing during Advent.
Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk who died December 10, 1968 - so the anniversary of his death is coming up this week. He lived in the Trappist monastery of Gethsemene near Bardstown, Kentucky. Merton lived a very worldly, secular life before becoming Catholic and becoming a monk. His books such as the Seven Story Mountain became very popular with Catholics and Protestants alike. His honesty and candor about his struggles and challenges on his journey of faith have endured him to so many Christians throughout the world, and his work in reaching out to people of other faiths has foreshadowed a lot of what John Paul II and Pope Francis did in their papacies. This prayer that he wrote in his book Thoughts in Solitude perhaps express the trust and calling we are hoping for on our Advent journey. Let us pray:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that, if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone. AMEN.
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