A Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent (C)
OK, how many of you have already started to put out your Christmas decorations? Do any of you already have your Christmas trees up? I am sure that many of you, including myself, have already started your Christmas shopping.
Now is a time of preparation. Plans are being made for family get-togethers, or maybe vacations. There is baking to do, lawns and houses to decorate, and trees to dress. And we cannot forget about the shopping. My one sister called my mother on the Friday after Thanksgiving, so-called “black Friday,” to say that she had gotten up early and had all her Christmas shopping done. There is so much preparation to get done.
Now is certainly a time of preparation, but as Christians we need to make sure that we do not lose sight of the REAL preparation we are called to do as we enter into the Advent season. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus gives us a very prudent warning, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life….” For us, as Christians, the important preparations we are called to make during this time of year is spiritual, a preparation for the coming of Jesus.
The Church has traditionally spoken of three comings of Christ, which correspond to the the three dimensions of time: the past, the present, and the future. Of course during this time of year we recall the great mystery of the Incarnation, of how God expressed His great love for us by sending His only begotten Son to us. We recall how the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, who is infinite, humbled Himself and took on our lowly human nature. That God lived among us.
We also recall that after His death and resurrection, Jesus did not abandon us. Rather He remains incarnate in the present through His Mystical Body, the Church. That this presence of Jesus in the world today is not just some abstract sentimentality. His presence among us today is very real, very tangible – most especially in the the Eucharist which is His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. Jesus comes to each of us in the now; in our joys and our sorrows, to guide us to our eternal home.
Finally we recall that Jesus will come again, “in a cloud with power and great glory.” In His future coming Jesus will fulfill the promise we hear in today’s first reading from the Prophet Jeremiah by being called, “The Lord our justice.”
To worthily prepare for the celebration of Christmas we must purify ourselves and grow in the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. These virtues find their origin in the mystery of Christ, especially in His Incarnation and birth. Faith, hope and love provides the framework of our Christian life.
We see these three theological virtues relating to the three dimensions of time, the three comings of Christ, that we are called to reflect upon during the Season of Advent. In Christ’s coming in the past, particularly in His Paschal Mystery, we find the very content of our faith. In Christ’s coming in the present, made real through the life of grace, we find the very source of love in us. In Christ’s coming in the future, at the hour of our death and ultimately at the final judgment, we see the object of our hope – the desire to spend all of eternity is perfect union with God.
During Advent we are called to fall even deeper in love with Christ. To achieve this we must develop the ability to reflect deeply on the life of Jesus. We also must develop an authentic interior life of prayer to keep us in communication with our Lord. Advent is a time for us to become aware of the things that keep us from Christ Jesus. It is a penitential season, not unlike Lent. This penitential aspect of the Advent season is almost completely lost in today’s “post-Christian,” consumer-driven society. Rather, the thought of Advent is often more dominated with a whirlwind of Christmas parties, decorations and getting ready for “Santa.” In the midst of all this we often forget the real reason for the season, and all these externals: Christ the Lord is coming! Again listen to the prudent warning of Jesus in today’s Gospel, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life….” If we do not prepare ourselves spiritually for Christ’s arrival, we could make the same mistake as the people in Bethlehem who not only missed his coming, but actually rejected Him (from the Homily Help for the First Sunday of Advent on the Sacerdos webpage).
Rather let us joyfully cry out: COME, O LORD, AND DO NOT DELAY!
