1st Sunday of Advent (Nov 29-30, 2014)

In the Gospel for this First Sunday of Advent, we are given the directive: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.”

Even though we do not know the day or the hour, the clear message for us is to be watchful and alert. The Lord comes to us in ways we may least expect. The truth is all of our life is salvation history. All time is sacred. The Lord comes to us in the experiences and the relationships of life.

To be fully alert would be to recognize the hand of God in all that is during the Advent season.

In our spiritual journey, I caution all of us against the temptation of thinking there are two approaches to Christmas. There are the Christmas parties, the Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, gift wrapping, and, of course, Santa Claus on the one hand ; and there is our Advent prayer which prepares our hearts for the coming of Christ in Bethlehem and in the inn of our own hearts on the other hand. We juggle between these two worlds and ending up feeling guilty because our prayer life gets short-changed.

Absolve yourself from this way of thinking! We do not live in these two worlds. We live in one world, and the Lord is in our world continuously. The Advent spirituality the Lord calls us is different from a dualistic approach to Christmas. The whole Advent season is part of our salvation history, part of our sacred time.

The question is not whether our Christmas shopping gets in the way of our Advent prayer. Rather, the message is discover the hand of God, the presence of God in the Christmas shopping we do and the Christmas parties we enjoy. In other words, love everything that is part of this Christmas season. May all you do be done with great love and with the spiritual sightedness to recognize and to be alert and watchful how God calls you to do all with great love in your heart in the service of one another and to the glory and praise of God.

Lest you think I’m not smelling the coffee at times, yes there can be a tension between the world’s idea of Christmas vs. our Christ-centered heart’s desire for peace, hope and serenity in this Advent season. But may our Advent spirituality not call us to a win-lose proposition in thinking the world’s idea of Christmas to be totally foreign to the true meaning of Christmas. The truth is to have the serenity, the centeredness, the prayerfulness to recognize the joy of celebrations and the spirit of Santa Claus. All become sacred; all becomes a win-win when we can see the hand of God in the expectancy of children and the socializing that comes in this season.

Again, all time is sacred. God is always present to you. As to our Advent prayer, our Advent prayer helps us to be aware and to alert so that we recognize God is present to us every moment of the day. Prayerfulness helps to be aware of what is – how God is present to us in all the moments of the days. We certainly don’t want to be in such a rush during this Advent–Christmas season that we are not watchful and alert to God in our lives.

For example, as I reflected on celebration of Thanksgiving, we had a beautiful and prayerful celebration of the Eucharist on Thanksgiving morning. I love starting this day of Thanksgiving celebrating with you the sacred celebration of the Eucharist. Then I spent eight hours Thanksgiving afternoon and evening at my brother John’s with our family. There were 49 of us gathered, and I must say that I was the oldest of our 49 family members. We had much to eat, drink, and celebrate; had a family football game; and spent time with each other. It was a bit chaotic at times, no doubt.

But my point is the whole day was sacred – not just the hour spent in Church celebrating the Eucharist. Our family gathering was very sacred and spiritual as well – not that we were engaged in formal prayer (we did do grace before our Thanksgiving), but I was experienced the wonder of God’s love for me in holding my grandniece in my arms, in talking with siblings, nieces and nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews.
So it is in this Advent season. Be alert to how God is present to you in all of your Advent comings and goings – both those that are formally spiritual and in all other movements. Do them all with great love and a keen awareness that all time is sacred.

Beginning this weekend, we are ramping up our commitment to have a spirit of welcoming hospitality at our Sunday Eucharist with more greeters at our doors and making available a welcoming information team in our usher’s room after each Mass. If you have a question or need information about any dimension of our parish life, I invite you to stop by the usher’s room and speak with a member of our parish information team.
We seek to develop the alertness and watchfulness of our Advent spirituality. When we welcome a visitor or a long-time parishioner with our warmth and our friendship, we are welcoming the person of Christ. This is what Advent is all about, welcoming the Christ who is in our midst.

I call your attention to the great Advent image that is in the first Scripture reading from the prophet Isaiah: “Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hand.” Let us rejoice in an Advent spent on the potter’s wheel, being shaped by loving hands into a truer image of the Christ who comes! That is such a beautiful image of the meaning of the Advent season. May we know that our loving Father wishes to shape us in this Advent season into a truer image of Christ who comes!
The danger of the busyness of the Advent Christmas season is that we simply drift off into the sleep of spiritual indifference – barely managing to keep up with all that is expected of us. While there is the danger of busyness, the grace of Advent is an opportunity to cease spiritual wandering and to attend to the Spirit of the Living God in our midst. The word Advent comes from the Latin verb advenire, meaning “to come to.” Advent is a time of paying attention to our God who comes to us in the person of Jesus.

Advent spirituality can see in the dark and can find hope in dark places. If we really believe that all time is sacred, we can even embrace our mistakes, our crosses, the dark places of life where we experience the brokenness of depression, the brokenness of relationships, the brokenness of the losses and setbacks in life. Yes, God is present to us in the darknesses of life.

Advent spirituality can see in the dark because we believe in the God of all hopefulness, the God of all joy. This God who accompanies us in the darkness is the same God who promises that the light of Christ is coming into our lives and into our world.
Indeed, there is both an introverted and extroverted side to our Advent spirituality. May our Advent spirituality become that needed rhythm of quiet prayer and welcoming hospitality. Every moment is this Advent season is a sacred time for us to be aware of how God is revealing His love to us.