I have ten words from the English language that all have the same power and motive. It’s interesting that we have so many words to describe the coming of Christ. Here they are:
- Longing
- Waiting
- Wanting
- Reaching
- Expecting
- Desiring
- Wishing
- Pining
- Craving
- Hoping
Why do we have so many words in the English language to get at this Advent feast? It’s because all of these words we need so many of them because it rather closely describes who we are as human beings. God is perfect. We’re not. We fall short. We know that. We could be better, should be better and so there’s always something in us that we’re reaching and searching and wondering when, where, how, please, come, where are you? The English language helps us so well for this Advent season.
We fall short. Come, come Lord Jesus. O Come, O come Emmanuel, come set us free! I believe that this gesture and I’m even gonna stand on the edge of the cliff here, and reaching, where are you Jesus? When are you gonna come? We need you. We hope for you. Without you we are lost. Come, come, come Lord Jesus! And He is near. It’s mauve, or pink, or rose this morning. It’s getting brighter! The one we beg for and desire is getting closer and closer. O Come Emmanuel, our beautiful Advent hymn. Come and set us free! Second verse, O Come O key of David, David is the key to open up Heaven’s gate. O come key of David open wide our heavenly home. Who’s gonna open the door for us? We can knock and knock and pound and maybe even kick at the door. Who’s gonna open the door? O come key of David. O come Emmanuel. Our hearts, our minds, our energy lifting others up hearing their cry, seeing their naked feet walk through the snow, open our minds, our hearts, our hands come to set us free from the bonds that bind us. I think we all know that. I know that. Sometimes we tie ourselves in knots. Maybe within the family there’s a lot of knots and we’re bound pretty tightly many times. Who’s gonna cut us free? O come, O come Emmanuel, come and free us. Free us from the habits that can mess up our lives. Any of you got any habits that are problematic in your life? Habits can take over, can control us. We know that. Who’s gonna free us from this bad habit that we’ve got? O come, Emmanuel! Come! We wait for you, we long for you, we reach for you, we crave for you, we desire you, we want you! Hear our prayer, O come Emmanuel. And as you know, I heard the announcement that the sacrament of reconciliation is gonna be on Thursday. Didn’t I hear that? Thursday from 6-8:30. I think that was it. Did I get that right? Yes? Thursday, 6-8:30, five priests will be here for the sacrament of reconciliation. Is anybody here tied up by sin? Ah, Thursday night six O’clock. 6-8:30! Yes, the sacrament of reconciliation, the words are, ‘Through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace and I absolve you from alllllllllll your sins! From all your sins! Jesus always does it completely. Does it look like there’s anything partly there, or halfway? Something like that? No, Jesus doesn’t know how to forgive halfway. He doesn’t pardon us halfway and so, Thursday night, good time to come and around other parishes there’ll be reconciliation available for these days leading up to Christmas.
O come, free us from our sins. We can’t do it without you, Jesus. Sometimes we try to do it without you, Jesus. We feel strong and stubborn and we’re gonna do it, I can do it myself. Most of us experience that doesn’t work and so come Lord Jesus. O come, Emmanuel. Come and set us free.”