(Gustave Dore: Jesus preaches on the Mount)
"Stand erect and raise your heads . . . your redemption is near at hand"
Luke 21: 25-28,34-36
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112821.cfm
This First Sunday of Advent once again reminds us of the two Christmas seasons we are yearly confronted with: one with Christ and the other without him.
If the point of Christmas is simply an annual
time of year when we feel good about each other, when we promote peace and good
will between peoples, when we gather with family and friends to exchange gifts
in beautiful wrappings, then we have only half the story. Why would we suddenly
do this? What motivates us to this perspective in our behavior? Why at the end
of December? Why do we need a season to do so, what about the rest of the
year? A Christmas without Christ makes
you wonder about the motivation, besides financial. Sadly, though, there are
many who see nothing of the religious reasons behind the season and in that way
deny its true origin and spirit.
While we decorate trees, houses, send cards
either via the internet or in old fashioned “snail mail” and collect food and
money to give to those less advantaged than ourselves is all good but without
Christ, what’s the point of doing so in late December? Christmas without Christ
can be placed anywhere at any time. We should be so generous and charitable all
the time yet our secular society suddenly wakes up to the real humanitarian
benefits of generosity, charity, and kindness.
But is that all Christmas is for us?
Again, it is only half the story.
The motivation for all this goodness must and
can only be a person – Christ Jesus himself. While non-Christians do celebrate
Christmas as a festival of good will and perhaps increased financial benefit we
Christians must be different. Many good faithful Catholics work hard in retail
this time of year, indeed, and their jobs are very important. In this time of a
fragile economy and when so many continue to look for a hope for good workers,
it may feel somewhat the same yet different.
Yet, the person of Jesus is the real and only
reason why we mark December 25th each year as the second greatest feast of our
Christian faith – the Resurrection (Easter) being the greatest. Our gift giving
is a reflection of the giving of God to us in sending his Son for our
salvation. While God’s generosity can
never be equaled by us, we know that our thanksgiving and charity must continue
far beyond the beauty of this unique time of year.
In this Sunday’s Gospel from Luke we hear an
image that I think may sum up what we can do during Advent to prepare and
center ourselves. Jesus tells us: “Stand
erect and raise your heads for your redemption is near at hand.” (Lk 21: 28).
Now picture that for a moment. It is a posture of vulnerability. Stand up straight with your arms beside your
body then raise your head as if looking up to the sky - you’re defenseless and
vulnerable. If someone was to attack you
in that posture you would be harmed since your attention is focused on
something, or perhaps, someone else. It
is spoken in the context of Christ’s second coming. Pay attention and be ready to receive him
when he comes. Stand “erect” and ready.
Advent, although an annual liturgical year
with its own particular color of violet, its readings from the prophets of
Jeremiah and Isaiah and figures of the Gospel story of John the Baptist and
Mary, is essentially an attitude of the heart; a kind of posture we take before
God: open, vulnerable, receptive and prepared to receive.
Receive more presents? We are to welcome and receive Christ Jesus
himself as the gift of the Father who came once 2,000 years ago and who will
come again at some future time. In the
meantime, we stand open and receptive to receive him every day as we live now
in between those two great events in human history the second of which will be
the end of all. In particular during
these weeks of Advent, the Church invites us into a season of preparation to
focus our attention on who is the center of Christmas and who is therefore Lord
of our lives.
If in all the stuff that brings joy during
this month of December we lose sight of why we celebrate Christmas, then our
annual "feel good season" is nothing more than an excuse for a party
with no real reason behind it other than maybe it’s good once a year to be nice
to each other. In the darkest time of year, on this part of the earth, a
festive moment is helpful but we must not forget the reason to be joyful.
So we recall the coming of Jesus in history,
his coming now and the future promise of his coming again. God intervened in a
mighty and decisive way when he came in the person of Jesus to break the power
of evil and death; he remains present in our midst through his word, the
sacraments especially uniquely in the Holy Eucharist, and we have hope of his
coming again when time and space will be ended.
So, let us adopt the attitude and the posture
before God to “stand erect and raise your heads” in this season of grace. Although we have been governed by fear more than
by faith in this last year and a half with this seemingly never ending virus,
we still have hope that God is in charge and all will be well while he is with
us. Christians are governed not by fear but by faith. If you find your life just the opposite maybe
this Advent is an excellent time to pray for the grace to have a faith in God
that overcomes all fear and desperation.
Our celebration of the Eucharist reminds us
that although Christ has left our physical sight he remains present to us under
the signs of bread and wine to be our food to strengthen us on our daily
journey. He remains very much present to
us in the faith we share, in the kindness and compassion we show to one
another, in the scriptures we read and the time we pray, and during Mass in the
holy Eucharist substantially and in the person of the priest who acts
sacramentally in his name and of course works in and through our sacramental
life.
There is nothing wrong with feeling good at
this time of year but what makes this time any different from another in that
regard? Rather, WHO makes this time different and what difference does HE make
for me? Faith not fear.
the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ
with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,
they may be worthy to possess the heavenly
Kingdom.
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