I
have found that it is very easy to get into the habit of looking only
at the readings and prayers for each Mass only as they come up. So,
for instance, we only pay attention to the 1st
Sunday of Advent this week and we don’t even consider the 2nd
Sunday until we get to that Sunday and so on. Obviously there is
some wisdom in taking the readings just one Sunday at a time. If I
tried to cover multiple Sundays in one homily, people would get
confused or overwhelmed with so much information. However, I do
believe that it is a good practice to once in awhile take a step back
so we can see the big picture of where we are going over several
Sundays in a liturgical season.
Today
we start a new liturgical year as we begin the Season of Advent. As
I was preparing for this homily, I took a look ahead at what the
readings for rest of Advent would be. I found that I could summarize
the readings for the four Sundays of Advent in just two sentences:
“Turn back to the Lord and prepare His way. Let us rejoice, for
the Lord is coming among us.” This Advent, I would like to make
this summary the common theme for my homilies. My hope is that this
will help all of us see how our journey though the season of Advent
will lead us to the joyful celebration of Christmas.
I
want to look at that first sentence of that summary again: “Turn
back to the Lord and prepare His way.” What I am trying to say
with this statement is that in order to truly prepare for the coming
of Christ at Christmas, we must turn our focus back to God. Our sins
and various temptations have pulled us away from having our complete
focus on God. I'm not saying that this all happened at once in the
blink of an eye. It happens slowly and gradually as we commit
various sins (mostly minor venial sins) and they build up in number.
Each sin turns us farther away from the Lord and takes us farther
away from Him.
I
think I have mentioned in a previous homily, that it is very tempting
to blame God as the one who has moved when we become aware that we
have separated from God. We wonder why it is that God moved away.
Was it something we said or did? The more likely scenario is that we
were the ones who moved: much like a small child who lets go of his
mother's hand in a department store to go check out a shiny new toy.
When he turns back, he is scared to see that Mom is gone. It wasn't
that she abandoned him; they just got separated for a bit. She is
still close by and they will be reunited very soon.
Our
readings today call each of us to admit that we have allowed
ourselves to turn away from God. Now we must turn back towards Him
and be ready for Him when He comes. Our first reading from the Book
of the Prophet Isaiah starts off this theme with crying out to God
for help. The prophet says, “Why do you let us wander, O LORD,
from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.”
In a way it is kind of like the child, realizing that he is lost,
beginning to call out loud for his mother to come and find him. In
light of our relationship with Jesus Christ, this reading is really
about the member of the Church, realizing that they are in sin,
beginning to call out to our Father in Heaven to come and rescue us.
“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the
mountains quaking before you.” Lord God, come to us with all your
might so that we may be freed from slavery to sin and come ever
closer to you. We acknowledge that we need to turn back to God and
we acknowledge we need His help as well.
For
many centuries, Advent was known as the “Little Lent”. Advent
was seen simply as a shorter version of Lent in which there was a
focus on fasting and penance. Today, Advent has taken on more of a
tone of a time for preparation and anticipation for the coming feast
day. Yet, one can still find a penitential tone in this season. The
Advent wreath, the altar decorations, and the vestments warn by
priests and deacons all have the liturgical color of violet. Violet
is considered a penitential color as it reminds us of the purple
cloak that the Roman soldiers put on Jesus in order to mock Him
during His Passion. We seek penance for our sins because Jesus
suffered so much because of them. The season of Advent, therefore,
is a wonderful opportunity to examine our life and our conscience and
to seek reconciliation with God so that we may fully celebrate the
joy of Christmas.
Our
Gospel for today reminds us of why we must not delay in turning back
towards God. “Be watchful! Be alert!” Jesus tells us all. Now
is the time for us to prepare for the coming of the Lord. Now is not
the time for us to be like that child who was so easily distracted by
a shiny new toy in the store. Now is the time to be watchful and
alert as we become aware of how our own sinful ways have separated us
from our God.
Sin
wounds our relationship with God and now we must heal those wounds.
What better way than in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? I've said
it before and I'll say it again, come to this Sacrament. Most of the
time I'm just sitting in the confessional in the back of Church
praying because there is no people coming to receive the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. I want people to come. I want all of you to make it
so that I have to figure out some other time for me to do my prayers
on Saturday evening and Sunday morning because I'm so busy offering
God's mercy through the Sacrament.
We
cannot be watching for the coming of the Lord unless we turn back
towards Him. That means we need to do penance for what we have done
and seek reconciliation with God. Then we will be ready.
No comments:
Post a Comment