“The Gospel passage today in St. Luke’s Gospel comes right after a passage that describes the destruction of the temple in 70 AD where Jerusalem was trampled under foot and St. Luke says, ‘Jerusalem will be trampled under foot until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled.’ You and I are living in those times, my friend, we’re living in those times. Luke then goes on to paint the apocalyptic picture, this vision of cosmic signs and great fear upon the earth and he says, ‘When the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ These dark and dreadful days will proceed the return of the son of man, St. Luke says, but his portrayal is not without hope. Even amidst the darkness, amidst all this trial, amidst all this cosmic chaos there is hope for those who believe in Jesus, for those who have hope in the one who entered the darkness, who was the light that entered the darkness of sin to cast it out. ‘For after these things happen,’ St. Luke says, ‘then you will see the son of man coming in a cloud with great power and glory.’ and he encourages his listeners, ‘Don’t be dismayed. Don’t be so upset, but stand erect, raise your head,’ Luke says, ‘because your redemption is at hand.’ It’s truly a positive message. Advent is that time of joyful anticipation. A time, quoting from the prayer that we used at Mass, ‘a time that we await the blessed hope.’ Who is that blessed hope? Jesus. ‘A time we await the blessed hope in the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ.’ Advent is a reminder of the hope that we should have.
We often conflate, today at least, Advent and Christmas. I think I’ve told you the story when I was here 18 years ago, my first Advent here. I was a new priest and I was trying to do everything like they taught in seminary. I went home for Thanksgiving. My dad was still alive. Mom is here with me today. I was up in Wisconsin. I came home for Thanksgiving kind of like this weekend and I was getting ready for the Mass and I had this fire and brimstone homily about ‘Don’t you put up Christmas lights yet. It’s not Christmas. It’s Advent. Make sure you prepare for Advent. It’s not Christmas. Wait. Wait until it’s December 24th and then leave them up all through the Christmas season.’ I was memorizing this homily in my head and I came around the corner from the airport and there was the rectory ablaze with Christmas lights. So, so much for that homily, but we often conflate Advent and Christmas. It’s hard to tell them apart. Before Halloween already there were Christmas decorations out this year and on the 26th of December just the second day into the season of Christmas it will all be gone and replaced with Valentines. Is it mere greed or materialistic commercialism or does it represent something more, a deep longing in people’s hearts for something more longing for something that this world can’t give. The Church has two high feast days in her calendar and the calendar in the Church year is meant to help us kind of organize our life in a pattern. We’re kind of made for patterns. We feel uncomfortable when there’s chaos, so the liturgical year has two high feast days, Christmas and Easter. Christmas marks the beginning of our salvation when the Word became flesh. God entered our human condition in space and time and began His Earthly ministry in the person of Jesus beginning in the womb of Mary and born in Bethlehem. Easter represents the culmination of that Earthly ministry, His passion, death and resurrection that made available for us forgiveness of sins and the opening of the gates of Heaven. Both of them are preceded by preparatory seasons: Advent before Christmas and Lent before Easter. They’re times for us to reflect on what the true meanings of those celebrations are, what the events that those celebrations point to really mean for us. God’s Word today warns us in a sense, implores us, ‘Do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life and be caught off guard.’ it says, ‘oblivious to the truth of why we exist.’ In other words, don’t lose sight of the big picture. Don’t get caught up in all the troubles of life in virus reports, in politics, in environment, in economics and all that stuff. Don’t get so caught up in that that we ignore what has eternal significance, what truly and really matters. I encounter a lot of people that come in and they’re so anxious. They’re anxious about politics and they’re anxious about the way things are going in the world and they’re just stressed out. It’s a resentment that bubbles up within them and everything in their life is polluted by it. Their personal relationships are tense. They are on edge all of the time. They feel alienated and separated from people they used to feel close to. I invite them often and I ask the Lord to give them biblical peace. It’s the peace that this world will never give. This world says you will have peace when all is right. That’s not the peace of the Bible. The peace in the Bible is an abiding trust in God, a trust that He is in charge even of the mess and that kind of peace is a peace that even when the world’s going crazy around us we have a tranquility inside because we know that there’s something more. We know the rest of the story. We know that no matter what happens here and now, no matter what tragedies or crisis or chaos, even death isn’t the end of the story. We know the light at the end of the tunnel. We know the promise that begins with Christmas and culminates at Easter time. That’s the peace that the Prince of Peace brought to us.
Advent says prepare for the Lord’s coming. Jeremiah today announces the prophecy of his first coming in time when He became incarnate in the womb of Mary. Every time we pray the creed we bow in reverence of that great mystery. God entered our condition. That’s what Christmas is about, but Advent invites us to prepare for three comings of the Lord. Yes, to commemorate his first coming at Christmas and to reflect what that means for our lives, to celebrate His second coming, to anticipate it and prepare for it. That’s a lot about what this first week of Advent is about because He will come in glory and are we ready to face Him that day? Will we be able to stand erect with our head held high? And then also Advent is about His daily comings in our life, day in and day out in prayer, in the workings of the Spirit, in the scriptures, in the interaction with those we love. Do we see Christ in them even in the poor and those we encounter in work or social life? All of these are what Advent invites us to ponder, invites us to refocus, to slow down a little bit and to take on the ultimate meaning of life which is to learn how to love rightly. The second reading from St. Paul says it well I think, ‘Brothers and sisters, may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another to strengthen your hearts to be blameless in holiness before our God and the Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ That’s as good a prescription for the Christian life as any, to learn how to love rightly, to imitate the love that God revealed first in the Babe of Bethlehem in His becoming incarnate and then ultimately in the cross that we celebrate at Easter.
Advent begins by focusing on the Lord’s second coming and inviting us to make sure we’re prepared. All of Advent should better equip us to encounter the Lord daily in our lives. As we approach Christmas the days get shorter, the darkness increases. It kind of reminds us of that first reading from Luke today, but there is light at the end of the tunnel for those who believe. There’s a reason to have hope. We’ll light in a few moments the Advent candle for the first Sunday of Advent, but as the days get longer and more darkness prevails we’ll light more lights through the season of Advent and even as the world becomes darker our hope will increase until we approach Christmas when all four candles will be burning, a reminder that don’t let this world get you down. There is light and a hope for all who believe in Jesus. Don’t miss the big picture, the true reason for the season. Embrace Advent. It’s a time of joyful hope of eager anticipation and of prayerful preparation and practice in learning how to love rightly so that we can truly be prepared for Christmas and all that Christmas implies. Have a blessed and holy Advent (and go ahead and put up your Christmas lights, that’s okay).”