Every now and then I
will get a card in the mail from a friend or an acquaintance or someone else
and it’s not a greeting card or a get well card or a happy birthday card or
even an invitation. The card is an announcement about some important event that
will be happening on some particular day in the distant future. The card in the
mail is telling me a few little details about the event and asking me to Save
the Date. Even though the event is in the distant future whoever sent this
announcement wants to reserve a place in my mind and a space on my calendar.
Sometimes these announcements
are for smaller events. From stores and businesses we get announcements to save
the date for grand openings and sales and theaters invite us to save the date
so that we can see the latest movie on its opening day. But sometimes these announcements
are for much bigger events. Save the date – I’m turning 15 . . . or 39. Save
the date- I’m graduating. Save the date- we’re getting married. Some events are
just so important that they need to be announced early. They are announced in
plenty of time so that we can prepare a place in our minds and a space on our
calendar. These are the events that we think about and places where we spend
the precious gift of our time. Some things are just that important. Some things
deserve to be announced early.
Like the promise of the
one who will open the gates of Paradise. That was announced early. Even as the
gates were closing on the Garden of Eden, there was the announcement that one
day someone would come with a cross shaped key to open them. Even as Moses was dying before entering into
the Promised Land, there was the announcement that the Lord would raise up a
prophet like him to the lead the people. And even as the prophets spoke in
times of war and exile, there was the announcement that a child would be born
and a son given in whose reign is everlasting peace. Some things are just so
important that they deserve to be announced early.
The season of Advent is
our Save the Date announcement. We are given this time to prepare a place in
our minds and in our hearts and even a place in our busy schedules so that we
can join in the celebration of the Son of God. As we prepare for the birth of
Jesus in Bethlehem and the return of the Lord Jesus in glory, we meet him here.
The promise that was announced at the gates of the Garden of Eden and made to
Moses on the edge of the Promised Land is fulfilled in our midst on the Altar.
Jesus himself invites us to join in the celebration. Amen.
Preached
at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
