Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Dec. 3, 2023. Gospel of St. Mark 13:33-37. Theme: Christ Comes in History, Mystery & Majesty!
Well, here we are at Advent once again, ushering in the holiday season that is always so special in just about everyone’s heart. The word Advent is derived from Latin and means “coming” or “arrival”, reminding us that we are in a season of preparation, a time of awaiting the return of the Lord of the house, as Jesus calls Himself in today's Gospel. He used the people’s familiarity with the vital role of a gatekeeper to get across the importance of attention and expectation, two important qualities for our own Advent waiting. Our Lord often referred to familiar stories and experiences as illustrations of his teaching and we can do the same thing by using stories we are familiar with to better understand His message.
For example, to me one of the most cherished stories that powerfully brings the spirit of Advent to me is A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. I am sure you are all familiar with this holiday tale of how on bleak and cold Christmas eve, the greedy miser Scrooge is converted into a generous Christian man by means of the three visitations he has from the Ghosts of Christmas-Past, Christmas-Present and Christmas-to-Come. Well, you know, it wasn’t by accident that Dickens thought up this plot. He lived at a time when Christianity still permeated culture and we can see in his classic story a strong hint of the triple traditional meaning of Advent as a season that refers to the past, the present and the future.
It’s in Advent-Past where we all tend to spend so much of our time and energy during this season. It’s what all of our holiday shopping, decorating and cooking revolves around! It’s when Jesus came to us in history, giving up his divine power in becoming a vulnerable baby born in Bethlehem to a poor working class family. He did this in order to truly be our Savior by sharing in and sanctifying every aspect of our lives and even to the point of suffering and dying as we all must do. But Jesus doesn’t want us to spend Advent just remembering what He did for us, as marvelous as it was. He wants to be born into our hearts and come to live in us today. He wants us to move on out of the past and spend more of our time in Advent-Present.
Advent-Present, is the miracle of Jesus coming to us here and now in mystery. He comes to us as the Bread of Life, really present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. He becomes personally present to us in the assembly of His Body the Church. And He continues to be mystically present for us in the persons of the needy poor. Jesus Himself told us about these realities of His Presence. He clearly taught that the Eucharist was His living flesh and blood by which He would live in us and we in Him. He declared that “where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them.” Finally, Jesus identified Himself intimately with those who are in need in any way when He said, “whatsoever you do to them, you do to Me.”
And so we see clearly that if we want to encounter Jesus truly and personally present in our lives here and now, we must turn to the Eucharist, to Christian community, and to the relief of those who suffer. These three things are precisely why worship, festive gatherings, and increased charitable actions have long been part of our Christmas customs. And so, it should be obvious that living Advent-Present is the most important meaning of the season because it’s the only one that is truly in our hands. Advent-Past is history. Advent-Future is yet to come But Advent-Present is ours to live here and now.
Finally, we have Advent-Future, Advent-to-Come. This was the most effective part for old Mr. Scrooge’s conversion and perhaps it can be the most effective for us as well. You’ll recall that in the novel Mr. Scrooge is led by the Ghost of Christmas-to-Come to the site of his future grave. In a similar way, Advent-to-Come makes us face the fact that life is both short and temporary; that our time on planet Earth will end. However, our personal existence will continue because we all survive our physical deaths. What will become of us when we meet Christ in His majesty? Where will we go to spend our eternity? The choice is ours to make here and now while we still have life and breath on planet Earth. How we live Advent-Present says a lot about what will become of us in Advent-to-Come.
So this year let's try to live Advent to its fullest, Past, Present and To-Come. Let’s keep in mind the history, the mystery and the majesty of Christ to help us observe Advent to the best of our ability. And let’s pray that Christmas Day will find us as changed and transformed as was old Mr. Scrooge, when he woke up on that decisive morning after the triple visitations, and suddenly found new gratitude and such joy in his new way of thinking, his new way of looking at life and his new way of living!
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