May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for
us.
Today we begin the season of Advent and today we begin a new
year of grace in our celebration of the sacred liturgy. The word advent means coming or arrival. During this season of Advent we prepare for
two comings of Christ. The second coming
of Christ, which we focus on in the early days of Advent, is the return of the Lord
Jesus at the end of history. The first
coming of Christ is the human birth of our Lord in Bethlehem. We will prepare for that event in the coming
weeks as we prepare for the feast of Christmas.
We await the second coming of Christ with patience and expectation. We celebrate the first coming of Christ with
this time of preparation. Advent is a
season of patience and preparation because our God is coming near to us.
In our first reading we hear of the vision of the prophet
Isaiah. We hear that in the days to come
that the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established as the highest
mountain. All nations and all peoples
will stream toward this mountain and desire to be instructed in his ways so
that they might walk in his paths. This
will be the establishment of the kingdom of peace, where the swords have been
beaten into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks. The event that Isaiah prophesies will reach
its fulfillment only when Christ returns in glory. It will be the day on which all of creation,
the whole of humanity, responds to the invitation that was sent out at
Pentecost. This universal kingdom of
peace is the kingdom for which we are preparing. The Lord Jesus in the Gospel invites us to be
prepared for his return in glory. He will
return on a day and at an hour that we do not know. The Lord Jesus invites us to prepare for that
final day when he will come near to us.
During our time of preparation, the Lord Jesus calls us to be
patient. He calls us to stay awake and
to be watchful. In the letter to the
Romans, Saint Paul advises the early Christians and he advises us that it is
now the hour for us to awake from sleep.
Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed in the
promise. It is time for us to throw off
the deeds of darkness and to put on the armor of light. We are invited to put on the Lord Jesus. We are invited to dwell patiently in him as
we await the full revelation of the children of God.
God is coming near to us.
This is the joy of the Advent season.
The Most High God has looked upon us with such love that he desires to
come near to us. He desires to share his
life with us. That, my dear brothers and
sisters, is how precious we are to God.
We are given this season of preparation so that we might watch for his
coming in glory and majesty. Until that
day, when all creation is made new and all of the peoples of the earth are
drawn to the mountain in the holy city of Jerusalem, God comes near to us in
humility and simplicity. Through the
simple gifts of bread and wine, and the simple and powerful words of Christ the
Lord, and the simple voice of his unworthy priest, God is near to us. Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic
Church, Monroe, NC
