Reflection for the 1st Sunday of Advent 2017

Sadness and
longing.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.

I heard ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’ for the first time this past week. People of faith singing out with such longing, such desire. It made me sad.

There are a lot of things that can make us sad at this time of year.

In part, it is melancholy – a sober thoughtfulness as we prepare. Maybe we think of Christmases past, people no longer with us, some regret, distance from those we love, separation, an unresolved conflict we wish had never happened. We think about those things with longing – a wish things were different.

Perhaps we are sad as we bang our heads against the wall trying to get ready. Shopping, buying, spending – will they be happy and satisfied? Did I measure up? Decorating, dragging out the dusty trees and ornaments. Looking at it all, and comparing to the neighbors – are we good enough this year? The lights that didn’t go on quite straight. Not being Martha Stewart in the kitchen. Remembering at the end of it all we just have to put it all away. Then all the crowds and the traffic. We think about those things longing that it would be different – a wish things could be simple once again.

Listen to the words from the Prophet Isaiah: 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 people of Israel were crying out. They had lost their way, they lost sight of God. They wanted His promises, His consolation. They wanted His presence, the coming of Emmanuel. They knew they were missing out. Things weren’t the way they were meant to be. They were sad, melancholy.

The key to Advent is to connect to the reason for the underlying sadness in our lives. We do many things to fill our lives, including what we do to fill the Christmas season ahead, but none of that is really able to help us deal with the melancholy or longing within us. None of it can silence what is calling us.

So how do we find what will fill us, what will bring us the fullness of joy and contentment? We start by finding some common ground with what Israel was going through, to put ourselves in their place. If we take the time to reflect on their longing, their melancholy, their sadness – we begin to connect with the gift God was getting ready to give them. He definitely heard their plaintive cries – and sent His Son to them, the Messiah, Emmanuel. If we spend this Advent season in prayer, scriptural reading, and reflection, listening for the voice of the Spirit, we will find Him pointing us to Jesus. Then we will find our hearts and minds really calling out for the fullness of what will satisfy.

Unlike Israel, we have an advantage. Our hope is a post salvation hope. Yet we still long. Advent connects us to this remaining longing. Our hearts and minds call out for the fullness of what will remove all sadness, melancholy, and longing. Advent connects us to the event that will satisfy – Jesus’ return and entry into the kingdom. Let us be ready. Return, return, Emmanuel!

Reflection for the 1st Sunday of Advent 2015

It’s all
over?

“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.”

The Thanksgiving leftovers are (almost) gone. If we were well prepared, the shopping is done. If not, perhaps we completed it (or at least started it) at the end of this past week.

We live in a time of “getting it done,” completing things, finishing. Perhaps getting things done relieves some of our worries. If we don’t get things out of the way, how could we possible deal with the stresses we have in daily life – our jobs, grades, children and grandchildren, our Social Security and retirement savings, health…

It is easy to say – I’m so glad that’s over. On to the next… Jesus asks for a different reaction in His faithful.

Jesus warns us against worry, against getting caught up in the day-to-day and worldly worries. Those are for a time only – but life in Him is eternal. Jesus also asks His followers to: Be vigilant at all times and pray. That is a warning against the: I’m glad it’s all over attitude. Advent helps us in readjusting and correcting our attitude.

If we are happy that Thanksgiving is finally over what does that say about the attitude of thankfulness that should be lived every moment of every day? If we are stressed about our shopping and cooking and traveling for Christmas – getting the decorations up so we can get them down – what does that say about our allowing Jesus to be born anew in us each day? If getting Easter done next is our goal, then do we see the power of Jesus’ suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension? If we stress over work and money, what does that say about where our treasure is located? If each moment is lived with the stress of getting things done, are we truly preparing for the tribulations that are imminent? If we cannot wait for the next thing to be over, checking stuff off our list, are we ready to stand before the Son of Man at the end of time?

Advent reminds us that we are to be in constant preparation and longing – not for the next thing to be all over, but for Jesus to come again. We are to feed on Him in the sacramental life of the Church – gifts he left us to strengthen us for a journey to the only completion that matters – eternal life in Him. We are to: Be vigilant at all times and pray not just to get it done and over, but so that we may overcome every trial and test and obtain true victory.

Reflection for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2015

What are we holding
onto?

“Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

Terror! On Friday evening, our time, we learned of horrible terrorist attacks in Paris, France. Earlier the same day there were similar attacks in Beirut, Lebanon. There are insurgent wars and terrorism across the globe. Those with power and money accumulate more – some through a subtle terrorism and violence that slowly whittles away at the lives of those without. The night of the terrorist attack in Paris also marked a major earthquake off the coast of southern Japan.

Many members of the early Church (1st Century) expected Jesus to return within a generation of His Ascension. In the New Testament, the word Parousia, meaning arrival or official visit is used at least seventeen times to refer to the Second Coming of Christ, except the one case in which it refers to the coming of the “Day of the Lord.”

The Church has always looked forward to the Parousia, the second coming of Christ. Of course as time passed, and as certain Churches grew rich and powerful, those Churches did not make such a big deal out of it.

The early Church prayed Maranatha (Come, Lord!). They longed for the Lord’s return because they knew the glory that was to be realized by those who put their faith in Him. They didn’t care for worldly wealth and power for, as St. Paul reflected, “I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us.” Somewhere along the line a good chunk of the faithful lost track of that desire.

We must not assume that we know the day and hour of the Lord. That is pride, and a time only the Father knows. “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” What we do know is that terror will come, earthquakes will happen, earthly death will go on, Christians will be persecuted, beheaded, crucified, and subject to the derision of the worldly.

We, as Christians, need to reconnect to that longing, the desire for the Parousia. When we pray the Creed we need to wholeheartedly proclaim: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” We need to really look forward to “the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” We need to cry out “Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus!” If we cannot do that, then we must be holding onto something so much more important than His glory.