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If we lose our focus on the Lord, neither his coming in past history, nor his coming at the end of time will have much meaning for us. We will be like the people of Noah’s time who, “In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away” (Matthew 24:38-39).
We enter the Advent Season today; a season of hope and preparation that we mustn’t allow to be relegated to third place behind shopping and holiday parties.
One of my strongest, most enduring and fond memories from my childhood is the time spent preparing for Christmas.
Like all the other children I knew, the anticipation of receiving presents, particularly toys, was a major part of the excitement in the days leading to Christmas morning. Although I can clearly remember this excitement, I can only recall a few of the many toys I received. The anticipation for the gift was often more satisfying than the gift itself. That is true whether one is young or old, if the gift is of this world. We have all seen the child who was more enamored by the wrapping and the box than the gift it contained.
So, if year after year, the gifts I wanted were not that special, what was it that was special about the season that provided me with fond memories?
Simply this—for a few weeks each year, my family came together for a joyful purpose that set a time apart from the rest of the year. The symbols that stick most prominently in my memory are the nativity scene beneath the tree and the angel that sat atop the tree. Everything important and lasting that we did as a family was directed to the glad tidings of the angel who would announce to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.” A child was born… the Child of all children… the King of kings.
But not yet—although the Christ-child was born in history, nearly two thousand years previously at the time of my childhood, His coming in my time at our annual Christmas celebration was still days and weeks away. When the nativity scene was first brought out and placed beneath the tree each year, the manger would remain empty until Christmas morning. At some moment before I awoke, the Christ-child would be placed in the manger by my parents.
The anticipation of His imminent arrival was heightened in my mind by the activities and lessons presented by the good sisters at school and by my parents who handed on the faith so well. These memories of the reason for the season remained with me, more so than the toys that never quite satisfied. You see, the time we spent each year during Advent, preparing to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, served to remind me during the remainder of the year of that great gift of our Savior who brings so much lasting consolation and joy. And looking back, it has served as a reminder to me down through the years too, even in those years where I did not place Jesus as central in my daily life as I do now.
If we lose our focus on the Lord, neither his coming in past history, nor his coming at the end of time will have much meaning for us. We will be like the people of Noah’s time who, “In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away” (Matthew 24:38-39).
Jesus warns us in today’s Gospel, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36).
Advent is a season of true longing and preparation for the only one who truly satisfies. We recall his coming to us in Bethlehem; we prepare for our celebration in our time of His nativity; we gird ourselves to be faithful and vigilant watchmen of His coming at the end of history.
St. Paul reminds us, “Brothers and sisters: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from your sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand” (Romans 13:11-12).
In today’s second reading, St. Paul writes, “…may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen” (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13).
We should allow the clarion call from this great saint to reverberate in our souls.
As we begin our own preparations this Advent, we need to ask, “Am I awake, or am I like the people in Noah’s time, so consumed with the affairs of this world that I have lost my focus on the Lord?” Again, Jesus warns us—He says, “So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come” (Matthew 24:44).
It is for this purpose that the Church gives us the Season of Advent. It is not a time to become distracted to the point of anxiety with excessive shopping and parties that have little to do with the celebration of the Lord’s coming. It is a time for our personal spiritual growth. How many of us would agree that far too many Advent and Christmas seasons have come and gone too quickly and without spiritual growth because our hearts and minds are captured by the secular interests of the season instead of the spiritual?
ADVENT RESOLUTIONS
This year, I have made a list of resolutions here at the beginning of the Church’s liturgical year instead of at the start of our upcoming, new calendar year. Maybe you will find something helpful among them as you too enter into Advent 2021.
- Examen and Resolution — I will begin this Advent by taking stock of my spiritual life. Is my spiritual life—my life of prayer—more advanced at the start of this Advent than it was at the start of last Advent? Is my relationship with Jesus deeper and am I more committed to Him this year than I was last year? If not, why not? Here I will look at the good and the bad and strive to replace bad habits with holy habits. I will seek to reconcile with those I may have harmed.
- Cultivating and Expressing Gratitude — I will begin each day with gratitude to Jesus for seeing me safely through the night and granting me another day to learn to love Him as He loves me. I will adjust my schedule so that I can express my worship of God at daily Mass. On those days when I am unable to do this, I will add a Rosary to my daily prayer or a period of meditation on the day’s Mass readings.
- Practicing Generosity — My daily prayer will include cultivating a desire to share all that Jesus has given to me, both spiritually and materially, with those in need that the Lord places in my path… and that the gifts I give to my loved ones and neighbors will be appropriate and informed by His love.
- Safeguarding the Gift of Salvation — Most of all, I will pray each day for the salvation of all whom I love and all who God places in my life—and that will include a prayer for my own salvation and my example to others—that this season of Advent will be a time of awaking from spiritual sleep as I await the coming of the Lord.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
Into the deep…
The Mass readings for the First Sunday of Advent (Year C) are: Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalms 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14; First Thessalonians 3:12–4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36.
