Sunday, December 1, 2013

Homily: 1st Sunday of Advent - History, mystery, and majesty

I can’t remember what grade I was teaching, but I was telling the children about Advent, that the word advent, comes from the latin word for ‘coming’; and that during advent we prepare for the coming of Jesus at Christmas.  And one of the kids asked, “Father, how are we supposed to prepare for Jesus’ coming when he has already come into the world?”

A great question!  Jesus, our messiah, our savior, did come already in history, almost 2000 years ago.  He came in history, born as the holy infant of Bethlehem, the newborn savior of the world into the arms of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

That first coming of the savior in history already happened.  And we can’t do much for to prepare for that any more than we could prepare for any other event that happened in the past, in history.

We can however prepare to celebrate Christmas with reverence, gratitude, and joy the anniversary of that first coming of Christ in history. And the season of advent helps us to do just that.

As Catholics, we await a second Advent, though, a second coming; Jesus came in history 2000 years ago, and we believe that Christ will come again in majesty at the end of time to judge the living and the dead and usher in the eternal kingdom, as he explained himself, in the Gospel we heard today.

His first coming, his birth in Bethlehem, that he would be born of a virgin, was foretold by the prophets, and Jesus himself tells us that he will come again.  But he says, we do not know the day nor the hour of his second coming. The Pope doesn’t know the exact day, the mayans can’t predict it, Nostradamus and other fortune tellers can’t predict it; only the Father in heaven knows when Christ will come again in majesty and glory; it could be this afternoon, it could be in 4000 years.  But when he does return, he will come garbed in the glorious and majesty robes of judge and eternal king.

We can and must prepare for his second coming: by living faithful lives, by repenting of our sins through baptism and remaining in right relationship with God through the other Sacraments of the Church.
Jesus came in history, he will come in majesty.  Yet, there is a third coming of Christ that we can experience now, an experience of the savior here and now: a coming of the savior that we can bask in, and relish in, and adore him in, even now.  In a mysterious way, a way, hidden to our senses, he comes in mystery every time we celebrate Mass.  Under the appearance of bread and wine, Jesus comes in the mystery of the Eucharist.  This is why at every Mass the priest announces, “The Mystery of Faith”.  He announces Jesus is here, in a mysterious way, which we know through our Faith.

It is a rock solid conviction of our faith that Jesus Christ comes to us really and truly at every Mass.  As surely as he came that first Christmas in Bethlehem, and as wondrously as he will come in glory, Jesus Christ really comes to us in the Mass.  This is why we genuflect to the tabernacle when we come into a Catholic Church; this is why we kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer, because our King is here. 
Yet, this coming in mystery is hidden, it is gentle, and tender, and unassuming, and every day—so simple, to our senses, that we can often miss him.  This mysterious coming of Jesus at Mass can become so routine for us, that we can get bored at Mass, not really paying much attention to the real presence of God here, with us. 

Most of the world failed to recognize him when he came in Bethlehem.  Much of the world fails to recognize him when he comes at Mass.  And many will not be prepared when he comes again in glory.

We prepare for his coming at Mass by arriving to Church a few minutes early to pray, to become recollected, to remind ourselves of the amazing miracles which occur during the Mass, pray that we can be awake and conscious and aware of what God is doing in our midst.  

I encourage you during this season of Advent, to take a spiritual inventory of your life.  What am I doing to prepare to celebrate Christmas in a more reverent way this year?  Is my soul prepared for Christ’s coming at the end of time through Sacramental Confession?  Do I prepare well for Mass?  If not, what changes do I need to make?

When we prepare well for Mass, the Holy Spirit awakens our hearts to whole new levels of Christian joy—joy at the awareness of God’s presence in our midst.

Speaking of joy,this last week, Pope Francis issued a letter to the Church called, “Evangelii Gaudium”, the joy of the Gospel.  It is truly a work of genius.  Instead of watching the Browns lose this afternoon, you might consider reading the latest words of Our Holy Father.  His words are inspiring and cover a wide range of topics: the importance of joy in the Christian life for the work of spreading the gospel, he talks to bishops about how to be good shepherds, he speaks about unjust economic systems, and the role of women in the Church, and the importance of strong Christian marriages. 

He talks about how so easy it is for Christians to become “sourpusses”, where instead of spreading the Gospel with boldness and zeal, we can become so pessimistic about the lack of faith in the world, we decide that the effort to spread the gospel isn’t even worth it.

The reason I bring up Pope Francis’ new document is because how much he stresses the importance for each of us to not just encounter words about Jesus, but to encounter Jesus in our prayer life.  Pope Francis wrote, “I never tire of repeating those words of Benedict XVI which take us to the very heart of the Gospel: “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”

The Popes urges us, just as the saints urge us, to open ourselves to encounter Christ in a deeper way.  Being a Christian isn’t just buying into a set of ideas, but encountering Christ who comes into our life. 

But if we are too busy with worldly things, if we have not recollected ourselves when we come to Mass, if we are too busy thinking about the television we will watch, or the video games we will play, or the host of duties we have as important as they are, if we do not come to Mass wanting to encounter him, open to encountering him, we will probably miss him.

Advent is a time of preparation.  We will never regret time set aside for God during this Advent season.  But we will regret time we do not give to God—time which we allow to become filled with busyness, and worldliness.


Don’t let the world tell you how to prepare for Christmas, allow your faith to guide these Advent weeks that you might be filled with true joy, joy which the world cannot give, that we may celebrate Christ’s coming in history, mystery, and majesty, with reverence and with holy lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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