We
celebrate this weekend (today) the Second Sunday of Advent. Now we normally think of Advent as a
four-week season of preparation for the Feast of Christ’s birth, but this year
we’re getting short-changed.
Advent
is only three weeks – the fourth week, after all, will last only from the 10
o’clock Mass on Sunday to the first Christmas Eve Mass five or six hours later
on Sunday afternoon. So three weeks it
is to get our hearts ready for the birth of the Savior, and one of them is gone
– so only two weeks left.
Only
two weeks til Christmas!? Some might be
struck with panic at the thought – I have so much to do – shopping and
decorating and baking and you name it.
And
some may be struck with panic – my heart is not nearly ready. I haven’t much time. But like we used to say as children in
hide-and-seek, He is telling us “ready or not, here I come.”
It
is the message of the season. The
message of this Gospel, the message of last week’s Gospel and in fact, the
message of a number of Sundays before that.
Namely “Get Ready.” It’s a rather urgent message that John the Baptist
is preaching to the folks coming out to the desert. Folks coming out probably mostly out of
curiosity – who is this guy eating locusts and honey? They come out and they get an earful – repent
and prepare!
That
is a vital message to us, isn’t it? We
have an opportunity to do just that this afternoon at the regional penance
service at Holy Cross. Avail ourselves of His mercy, repent of our sins, let
Him cleanse our hearts in preparation for Christmas.
But
it’s easy to let that message overpower the other messages in these readings –
“Comfort. Give comfort to my people,” says the prophet
Isaiah. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem… Here comes with power the Lord GOD… Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he
gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”
And
from this reading from the second letter of Peter: “The Lord does not delay his
promise, but He is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance.”
Yes,
it’s urgent that we should repent, but it’s comforting that He is coming with
His comfort, His gentle care, and with His patience.
So
what to make of all this? What to make
of the last two weeks of Advent, this time of preparing our hearts? I struggled with that question – O Lord what
am I to say to the people, what would you have me say to their hearts for this
short 14 days. And I think it’s this.
One
of the dangers of this season, occurring every year, is that this Advent might
be no different than last Advent or the Advent before that. With the two weeks we have left, let’s focus
on this being different, better, than any Advent before.
And
specifically how, you ask?
Let
us fall in love with Him. Fall in love
with the infant King in the manger. With
the crucified King on the Cross. With
the triumphant King risen from the dead.
With the King who is God and man, who loves you and loves me more
extravagantly, more generously, more deeply than you or I will ever fully
realize this side of heaven.
All
He wants is that we love Him. So let us
fall in love with Him. Or more
accurately, let us pray that we fall in love with Him. Like never before, like no Advent before.
While
visiting family in Cincinnati last weekend, we were in the student center at
Xavier University, and I saw on the wall a quote by the Spanish Jesuit Father
Pedro Arrupe which really struck me.
Then at Mass this (yesterday) morning at the Genesee Abbey, the homilist
mentioned it again, so I took it as a sign that this is what I, at least, need
to ask for, need to pray for, this Advent.
The
quote is this:
“Nothing
is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite
absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination
will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the
mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends,
what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with
joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide
everything."
So,
sisters and brothers, that will be my focus and my daily prayer for these last
two weeks of Advent – “O Lord, help me realize how much you love me. And Lord, help me fall ever more deeply in
love with you.”
Once
we realize, not only in our brains but in our hearts and in our marrow, how
much He loves us, how much He loves you, how much He loves me, brothers and
sisters we will have no choice but to fall in love with Him. Our lives will be radically different, as are
the lives of everyone when they’re in love.
“O
Lord, help me realize how much you love me.
And Lord, help me fall deeply in love with you.”
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