First Sunday of Advent
As we begin our season of Advent, we are in a season of preparation. We are not Marines begging to get away from a tough commanding officer, but followers of Christ, waiting to celebrate with joy the annual celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, and waiting for our Lord to return. But our preparations, or the lack of preparations, tell us about how or if we will be prepared for when Christmas comes and when Christ returns. Because the Gospels are clear, through many parables, that if Christ catches us off-guard, it will not be good for us.
When we think about preparing as a Church, we generally put more emphasis on Lent as a penitential time to prepare for Easter. But Advent, too, is a time of penance and denying ourselves so that we can be ready to celebrate with joy. Advent is a kind of mini-Lent, shorter, and leading up to a celebration that is not as big as Easter. But it is still meant to help us grow in prayer and the life of virtue.
We may not always think of sacrificing as a good thing. But we are good at sacrificing for things that we really want. Perhaps you are working overtime during these weeks leading up to Christmas to pay for the extra expenses for family and friends. Kids, who usually like to sleep in, will deny themselves those extra hours of sleep on Christmas morning to see what kind of presents they received. When we treasure something, we are willing to change our lives for the thing we treasure. Are we willing to do the same for our Lord this Advent?
It is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of these days leading up to Christmas. Besides our usual responsibilities at work and/or home, there’s the decorations that will need to go up (or have already gone up), the parties with families and friends, and Christmas music has been playing on some radio stations since just after Halloween. There’s also the stress of trying to find that just-right gift for the ones we love, the question of how much we can afford to spend, and how much we want to travel as snow starts to fall and make our commutes a bit more difficult than usual. If we are not purposeful about taking time to prepare, before we know it, we’ll be getting ready to go to Christmas Mass and wondering where the time went. I know that November, for me at least, has flown by; I’m not sure exactly why it went so quickly, but it did. Even more so will December likely fly by. So we should make plans now for how we can prepare, rather than fall into Christmas.
Like Lent, the Church invites us to pray more during Advent. During Lent we pray especially for mercy and recognizing our sins, as we “turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” During Advent we can also pray for mercy and seek conversion, the avoidance of sin and the embracing of good. But we do so with the view of preparing for Christ to return and wanting to keep our baptismal garments white with purity, as our parents or we were instructed to do at baptism.
We can also make our own the prayer of the early Church, marana tha, “Come, Lord,” and ask for Jesus to return. We know that this world is not the way it is supposed to be. And we know that when our Lord returns He will set everything right. Our prayer should be for that to happen soon, so that pain, sorrow, and suffering do not have to last any longer, but can come to and end and wholeness, joy, and happiness can be the only thing that we disciples experience.
In Advent, we also focus on bringing more light into our lives, namely, the light of Christ. In our part of the world, it’s dark–a lot–this time of year. You wake up in darkness, and you eat dinner in darkness. And yet, we are preparing for the Light of the World, Christ, to come forth from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to shine upon the darkness of our lives and our world so that we can see clearly. Our Advent candles remind us of the growing light. And again, Advent is a time to reflect on our baptism, when we received a baptismal candle and were told to keep it burning until the return of Christ in glory, like the wise virgins with their lamps in the Gospel parable. How do we keep the light of faith alive in our hearts? How do we share that light with others so that they, too, can see? What guides are enlightening our pilgrim path through this world? Is it simply worldly wisdom, which often leads us away from God, or is it the wisdom of Scripture and the teachings of the Church, which guide us to the sun that never sets in heaven, Jesus Christ our Lord?
Advent, like Lent, is also a time of almsgiving, of helping the poor. We have our giving tree that is up at St. Pius X, and so many organizations collect money and toys for those who do not have the financial resources to celebrate this time of year with food or presents that many of us take for granted. Especially in the cold, winter months, we can assist others with donating gloves, hats, and coats to keep people warm, especially if we no longer use them and they are just taking up space in our closet. Service to the poor is a year-round call for us as disciples, but especially as we prepare to welcome Christ at Christmas. In centuries gone past, the preparation for Christmas began closer to St. Martin’s Day, 11 November. St. Martin was a soldier who became a bishop in France, but as a soldier he cut his cloak in two to give to a poor man who was cold along the side of the road. That night in a dream, he saw Christ with that cloak, and knew vividly what our Lord said in the Gospel of Matthew: Whatever you do for the least of my brothers and sisters, you do for me. Our own charity can mimic St. Martin’s in our shorter preparation for Christmas.
Our end is in our beginning. Our preparations dictate how the actual event will go. Advent is an easily-missed season, because it is so short, and because we have so much going on. But take time to prepare, not only for all that is going on in your work and personal life, but for our Lord’s Nativity and His second coming in glory. Don’t let Christ catch you off-guard when He comes!
