Not Christmas Yet

First Sunday of Advent

Here we are: the first Sunday of Advent.  We lit at the beginning of Mass the Advent wreath with its first candle.  But every store around us is decorated with Christmas decorations.  So what is the Church doing?  We’re not decorated for Christmas yet.  There weren’t even any readings about “little baby Jesus” (to quote the movie “Talladega Nights”).  

One of my struggles as a new pastor here, is that I don’t know what the other priests have preached on, so maybe some of what I say today will be a review; don’t fall asleep.  But Advent comes from the Latin word adveniens which simply means “coming.”  Advent is our time of preparation.  But we are not simply preparing for Christmas.  We are first and foremost preparing for the second coming, or the second Advent of Christ.  That’s why a lot of our readings still have an “end times” theme.  Isaiah prophesies the day when all of God’s people will approach the mountain of the Lord, which any Jew would have recognized as Jerusalem (it’s like saying “the capital” in Michigan; we don’t have to say Lansing).  St. Paul talks about now being the time to wake up from our drowsiness, now is the time to convert from our sinfulness, because Jesus is coming.  And Jesus in our Gospel talks about being prepared for the end, when He will return, and not to be caught off-guard.

In fact, the first Gospel that we have that talks about the time immediately before Jesus was born, will come on the fourth Sunday of Advent.  Until then, we’ll continue to hear about preparing for the Jesus to return, or preparing for Jesus in general (like when John the Baptist will preach about Jesus).  We will speak about Jesus’ first coming, His first Advent, especially one week before Christmas, but until then our Masses and readings focus on Jesus’ second coming at the end of time.

But our church building does have a primary sign of waiting for Jesus: our Advent wreath.  The evergreens of the wreath remind us that Jesus offers us new life that never dies.  Now, to be fair, trees that drop their leaves don’t die during the winter; but they sure look like they do!  Any deciduous tree looks like it’s barren.  But the evergreens stay green all year round, like the popular song “O Christmas Tree” says.  We also have four candles on our Advent wreath, and we light one for each week of Advent that we are in.  In one sense, we might say a light is a light, and it doesn’t make a difference between electric light and candle light.  But candles play a prominent role in our Church.  We have candles around the altar, where the Eucharistic sacrifice occurs, and around the ambo, where the Word of God is proclaimed.  Each Easter Vigil we begin by lighting the Paschal or Easter Candle, which reminds us that Christ is the Light of the World.  Candles provide a different kind of light, as anyone can tell you who has lost power and relied on candlelight, or for anyone who has tried to host or go to a romantic dinner: candlelight provides a different atmosphere than just electric lights.  And candles also have a scent to them (not just Yankee Candle Company).  Candlelight is also alive, in a metaphorical sense.  The flames seem to dance on the wick, and almost takes on a life of its own.  In any case, our Advent wreath helps us remember Jesus Christ, the life and light of the world, who will come again.  And as we get closer to celebrating Jesus’ first Advent in Bethlehem, we will have more candlelight from more of the candles being lit.

So our challenge over the next four weeks of Advent is to be ready and not to rush.  In very few circumstances are people truly ready when they rush.  Whether it’s a kid stuffing all his clothes and toys in the closet so that no one sees them at the Christmas party; rushing to cook the special meals we have during the holidays; rushing to get everywhere we need to be.  Rushing to something is not generally connected with truly being ready.  In the midst of our hustle and bustle of this short season, I encourage all of us to take time to prepare for Jesus first and second Advent, by making time and space for Jesus’ third Advent, His coming into our hearts.  Take some extra time for silence and prayer.  Maybe spend time with Jesus in Adoration on 16 December; maybe come to Mass 5 minutes earlier to pray before the introduction begins; maybe turn off the radio in the car for the drive or part of the drive into work; maybe even turning off the cell phone for a little.  In whatever way you choose, be ready for Jesus to come, “for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

"Little Baby Jesus" ~Ricky Bobby

Epiphany of the Lord

            Just a few weeks ago the trailer for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” was released.  As a big “Lord of the Rings” fan, both the books and the movies, I was pretty excited.  It looks to be a good movie telling the first half of the tale of Bilbo Baggins’ adventure.  Still, there’s always a little awkwardness that can come when, if you’ve read the books, you picture characters looking a certain way, and then on the screen the actors with all their makeup look different than you pictured.

            Today, as we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, we celebrate Jesus showing Himself forth to the nations, the Gentiles, the non-Jews, represented in the three magi who came from the east.  The very word epiphany could be translated as “showing forth.”  And, in fact, the Solemnity of the Epiphany has, historically, celebrated the three manifestations of Jesus: to the magi, at His baptism, and at the wedding of Cana, where Jesus, in three different ways at different times, made Himself known to others. 

            But, sticking with the Gospel passage we have today, I wonder if the magi saw what they expected.  They told King Herod that they were traveling to see the “newborn king of the Jews.”  So when they showed up at the home of Joseph and Mary, and saw a little boy, living in humble circumstances, I wonder if they were taken aback.  As they were offering their precious gifts: gold for a king, frankincense for a deity, and myrrh for a rich burial, I wonder what they thought of this little boy.

            We, of course, have ways that we like to think of Jesus.  Maybe we’re like Ricky Bobby from “Talladega Nights,” and we like to think of our Lord as “little baby Jesus.”  Or maybe when we picture Jesus we think of a king in royal robes and a crown.  Perhaps we think of Jesus as a poor, itinerant preacher, a radical of His own day.  Or maybe we see Jesus as a strong carpenter.  Or when we think of Jesus, maybe we always see Him on the cross.  In whatever way we like to think of Jesus, it is still the case that Jesus continues to surprise us by his presence.

            For some, Jesus surprises them by being present today in his brothers and sisters: in the poor begging on the corner; in our family members, especially the ones that we want to avoid; in the terminally ill; in the elderly; in those with a same-sex attraction, or in broken marriages.  And yet, Jesus still makes Himself present in these people, who have inherent goodness because they are human persons, created in the image and likeness of God, who, no matter what good or bad choices they have made, still deserve our love and can still manifest Christ, even if it’s harder to see at times.  In these manifestations, Jesus continues to make Himself known, and we still are called to care for Him who lays hidden beneath those human frailties. 

The life of St. Martin of Tours, whom the Church celebrates on November 11^th, bares this out in a very clear way.  St. Martin was a soldier, and he was riding his horse in the cold winter.  Along the road was a poor man who barely had any clothes on and was freezing.  Martin cut his cloak in two with his sword, and gave half to that poor man so that he could warm, even if just a little.  That night, St. Martin had a vision of Jesus wearing that cloak, and realized what Jesus meant when, in Matthew 25, He said, “What you did for the least of my brothers and sisters you did for me.”

In our own times, there are a number of people, maybe right here in our own parish, who struggle to see Jesus manifest Himself through His Mystical Body, the Church.  And certainly, some members of the Church don’t always make it easy to see Christ in the Church.  We certainly are a corpus permixtum, as St. Augustine of Hippo calls us, a group made up of both sinners and saints.  And yet, in a mysterious way, the Church is the mystical and immaculate Body of Christ, without sin, and communicating the fruits of Christ’s own redeeming life to those who cling to it.  As Timothy Cardinal Dolan has said on many occasions, “Christ and his Church are one.”  You cannot have one without the other, period.  Or, to quote the Catechism, which quotes St. Cyprian of Carthage, “No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.”

How often do we hear the phrase, again, sometimes from Catholics, “I’m spiritual, but not religious”?  Or, “I have a great relationship with Jesus, but I don’t want to mess it up by getting other people involved.”  When Jesus manifests Himself, even today, He does so always with His Mystical Body, the Church, and never apart from her.  To quote the great Vatican II theologian, Henri de Lubac, “For what would I ever know of him, without her?” 

Does this mean that everyone who represents the Church is always perfect and always right?  Certainly not.  Does this mean that we should never struggle with some of the teachings of the Church on matters of faith and morals?  Some people do struggle with what the Church teaches, seeking to understand what the Church has defined as belonging to the deposit of faith.  But, when it comes to matters of faith and morals, we can know that when the Church acts, it is Jesus acting through her, whether it’s on the Church’s teaching on abortion, contraception, the preferential option for the poor, marriage, who Christ is, who the Church is, and down the line.  We may not have been expecting to see Christ in that way, but just because we do not expect Christ to be shown forth in that way does not mean it is not Christ.  Maybe instead of wanting the Church to change to fit our desires, we need to change our desires to fit with the Church.

Jesus continues to manifest Himself to us, as He did to the magi 2,000 years ago.  As He likely shocked the magi then, sometimes He may shock us in His manifestation.  The question for us is whether, like the magi, we will choose to lay down what is precious for us: our time, our treasure, and our assent of the will in faith.  I would suggest that, for many of us, money and an independent will are the two things which are most precious to us.  Will we lay them down at the feet of Jesus Christ as He manifests Himself to us in the marginalized and in His Mystical Body, the Church?