First Sunday of Advent
But the speed of time seems to vary for each person depending on the circumstances. Sixty seconds is not a long time, and when you’re doing other things, it passes quickly. But if you’re doing a plank, sixty seconds can seem like an eternity. I did a physical test with the Michigan State Police a month or so ago, and I told the administrator that I struggled to plank beyond a minute. He told me to start the plank, but instead of looking at the clock, start talking to him and carrying on a conversation. Before I knew it, I had planked for two minutes.
This time of year, as we prepare for Christmas, time seems to pass differently for children than for adults. For adults, there are presents to buy, the house to decorate, cookies to bake, parties to attend, in addition to the usual work schedule. Time flies by. But for children, as Christmas gets nearer and nearer, the days seem to slow down, rather painfully, and it seems like Christmas and the joy of unwrapping presents will never come. Even the hours of Christmas Eve, waiting for the time when parents allow the children to come downstairs and open up their gifts, seem interminably long.
Perhaps the same could be said as we await the return of our Lord in glory. For some this time of waiting for our end or the end of time flies by. I have noted in my own life that the older I get, the faster time goes. And if we’re not living in such a way that we are ready for Christ’s return, then when it does come, either at the hour of our death or when Christ returns to judge all the living and the dead, it will probably seem like it snuck up on us.
On the other hand, for those who are living in such a way as to welcome Christ back; for those who are doing all they can to live according to the commandment of Christ, it might seem like the second coming, the parousia, will never arrive. In our own times, each day it can often seem to get harder and harder to live as a devoted Catholic, as the secular order moves farther and farther away from holding up a way of life that Christ instructed us to live.
During this time of Advent, we have a yearly reminder to prepare ourselves for the three comings, the three advents, of Christ: the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, when we first learned that God had become man; the daily coming of Christ into our hearts and souls; and the coming in glory of Christ at the end of time. And how we choose to prepare will guide the way that we experience each passage of time.
Christ encourages us to be like children, and during Advent this is especially true, as I mentioned that children often experience the preparation for Christmas to be excruciatingly long. Of course, we adults have to work, whether in or outside of the home. And that gives time a certain velocity. But when it comes for our preparations for the celebration of Christmas, do we long for that day with the same longing of children? Not for the presents, but for the joy of celebrating the Incarnation. Each time we say the Creed, the Church asks us to make a profound bow (in the Ordinary Form) or genuflect (in the Extraordinary Form and for everyone one on Christmas at at the Solemnity of the Annunciation) because of the great wonder of that day. During this Advent, we should daily remind ourselves of just how wonderful Christmas is and long for it because we long for the celebration of when we learned just how close God wanted to be to us. Perhaps every day we can genuflect or bow and say that short phrase from the Creed, “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” If we keep that great day of celebration at the front of our minds, we will long for it more, and the more we long for it, the more we will have time to prepare for it.
When it comes to waiting for the second coming, our anticipation is guided by the daily coming of Christ into our life. Advent is similar to Lent. It is a time of repentance so that we can be prepared for the joy of Christmas, just as our Lenten repentance prepares us for Easter. Our Lord encourages us to watch and be ready in the Gospel today. We watch when we pay attention to what we think, what we say, and what we do. Do we seek to align our thoughts on Christ and His reign, or are they busied with other things of less importance? Do our words convey the grace that comes from Christ, or do we spread hate and division which come from the evil one? Can people tell, from my actions, that I follow Christ? Or do I practically live as an atheist, not acknowledging God and His reign in my heart, but living as if God is, at best, far off and unconcerned with my actions, or, at worst, dead?
The more we long for the day of the Lord’s return, the slower it will seem to come. But the slower it seems to come, the more joy we will find when it finally does arrive. I think back to the week before my ordination to the priesthood. I had studied and been formed for eight years in seminary. I had discerned a call to the priesthood, and the Church had confirmed that call. But that least week in particular seemed like it was never going to end, that I would never come to the day of my ordination to the priesthood. But when it did come, there was a joy that words cannot adequately express. For those of you who are married, you probably experienced something similar the week leading up to your wedding (though I bet you’re glad you didn’t have to be engaged for eight years!). I know that, from the groom’s perspective, seeing his bride walk up the aisle as the wedding begins can be so overwhelming it brings even the gruffest men to tears.
During this Advent, I hope time goes very slowly for you. No, I’m not hoping that your life is painful. But I hope that, because of our great longing for Christmas and the second coming of Christ, each day will seem long, because the goal of our waiting, whether for Christmas or the parousia, is not here yet. And when that happens, our joy at Christmas and at the parousia will almost certainly be a joy beyond all telling, because He has come to us to save us from sin and death, Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is God, for ever and ever. Amen.
