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I Reading: Jer. 33: 14-16
II Reading: 1 Thess. 3: 12 – 4: 2
Gospel: Lk.: 21: 25-28, 34-36
Advent is here; soon Christmas will be. Let this season
not pass us by without imparting the graces it promises.
Let it not weary us with its repetitive rituals that
recur each passing year. Let it rather herald the coming
of the one we long for.
The season of Advent focuses on two realities: on the
one hand it celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ at his
first coming; on the other it is the anticipation of the
return of Christ the King at his second coming.
In the first place it is the celebration of the
reconciliation that Jesus brought about during his first
coming. The prophesies of old were fulfilled when Jesus
“caused a righteous nation to spring forth for David”
(First Reading). Advent and then Christmas celebrates
this event. We are inheritors of this righteous nation.
We enter into the season of Advent with the hope that we
would eventually celebrate with Christ the righteousness
that he has won for us. This is not without effort from
our part.
In the Eastern churches Advent used to be a season of
fasting and penitence for sin, similar to the season of
Lent. However, a different emphasis for the season of
Advent has gradually unfolded on the rest of the church.
The season of Advent has come to be celebrated more in
terms of expectation and anticipation. The faithful
anticipate with eager expectation the “Day of the Lord”
that will be really a day of darkness (Amos 5: 18-20).
But the righteous need have no worry (Gospel). So, while
some church traditions focus on penitence during Advent,
the spirit of that expectation from the Old Testament is
better understood with a joyous sense of expectancy.
Rather than a time of mourning and penance, advent is a
time of joy and happiness as we await the coming of the
King.
We are fortunate to be living “between the times,” to be
bearers of the Christian message. This should excite us.
It is not a small thing for us to be object and channels
of the Christian message of reconciliation and peace.
We are, in the first place objects, because each passing
day we are called to receive pardon and forgiveness from
God and neighbour whenever it is needed. We are channels
of the same to others by our very calling. I feel it
whenever I sit at the confessional, stand at the shrine
of Our Lady attending to devotees, or sit in the parlour
listening to stories of many a betrayal and denial.
It is again not a small feeling to look forward to the
fulfillment of the promises that we have grown up with.
That too excites the believer. The future hope brings
with it the call to be faithful and to be accountable.
The “great and terrible Day” of the Lord is before us to
warn the wayward and to fill with eager anticipation
those who have “washed their clothes with the blood of
the Lamb” (the second reading and the Gospel).
Today we need the season of Advent to attend to our
mission to the world around. The cry of deliverance by
the prophet Jeremiah (33: 14-16) was in fact that of the
people of Israel as one people. The concept of Messiah
as a corporate personality was strong at that time. It
was believed that the Messiah stood for the people. What
he suffered the people suffered. The individual has his
identity in relation to the whole. The season of Advent
is given to us as a people, a church that gathers to
worship.
In the present age of globalization, when there is a
surge in communication of information and transfer of
goods and skills, the need for one another is felt more
than ever. However, one wonders whether there is also an
accompanying apathy towards the human person. In the
present culture human beings are often seen as means to
an end. As long as they are useful to meet one’s needs
they are of value. Isn’t the inability to meet a person
where he or she is the new heresy that we must contend
with? True, some companies and organizations arrange
seminars on person oriented development programmes and
courses for their employees. Yet, are they motivated by
a concern for the growth of person as persons or are
they strategies aimed at boosting performance? Even in
parent-child relationship hasn’t a quest for performance
overtaken the traditional values that are attached to
family life and parental care?
Advent reminds us that God still believes in the
goodness of man. “Unto us a child is given.” The manger,
the angels, the shepherds, all remind us that God is
still to be found in the heart of the simple that look
up to him in hope for redemption. Amidst the hustles of
life in the quietness of our hearts the Immanuel,
“God With us,” is waiting to be born anew.
This season of Advent will make sense to us only of we
participate in the two-fold celebration: the celebration
of the first coming of Jesus, and the eager expectation
of the second coming. In the first place, we must
involve ourselves with the deliverance that Jesus wishes
to bring for us today. In the second, we are to usher in
a new order of creation where we begin to value the
beauty of the human being as inhabited by the Son of
God. This we must, in spite of the growing tendencies to
isolate persons from persons forced by the demands of
modern life-styles. Only then will the Messiah be born
in us. |
