Dear Parishioners:
Sunday, we begin the holy season of Advent, a time to pause and consider the importance of this time of preparation and watchful waiting. The Advent Season is often overshadowed by the "holiday season" as we move too quickly into celebrating Christmas. By the time that the actual solemnity of Christmas arrives, many of us are exhausted. We are already tired of all the "Christmas hype." Christmas has become anticlimactic.
The word Advent comes from the Latin for "coming" or "arrival." The Church teaches: "The season of Advent has a twofold character: It is a time of preparation for Christmas when the first coming of God's Son ... is recalled. It is also a season when minds are directed by this memorial to Christ's second coming at the end of time. It is thus a season of joyful and spiritual expectation." Advent is a season of joyful hope, a time of preparation and waiting as we prepare for Christ. This season is not just about preparing for the birth of Christ at Christmas. But also the Christ continually being born in our midst who transforms the Church.
In these dark days of the pandemic, the Church calls us to gather and quietly wait in hope for the coming of Christ, Her bridegroom, the Light of the World. Is our hope really in Christ? Do we allow ourselves to wait in silence and ponder the great mystery of salvation? In the darkness, we watch for the coming Lord. We must not let our fears, doubts, or our busyness distract us from this watchful waiting. The season calls us to be attentive to our preparations for the final day and attentive to the quality of our life in union with Christ.
Light of the World, C. Bosseron Chambers (circa 1920)
During these four weeks, we prepare for the Light, which comes into the world, both in Christ's birth and as we await his final return in glory. I know it is an enormous challenge to remain faithful to the Advent season when we are surrounded by a society which, while claiming to be Christian, does not take the time to reflect and prepare as the Church calls us to do.
The season of Advent refocuses us and reminds us that Christ has changed the world. Darkness has descended, and the world itself is quiet. We know that Christ reigns over all of creation. We strain in the darkness to see the Light of Christ, our coming King. May our observance of this season renew us and be an example of prayer, patience, silence, and joy in our hurried and anxious society. May it help us to see the Light of Christ amidst the darkness of the world.
To be sure, Advent 2020 is likely to be very different amid the pandemic's social restrictions and isolation from family and community. Indeed, we need Christ to come into the world all the more. However, perhaps these restrictions afford us a real opportunity to enter into the spirit of the Advent season more fully. The secular distractions of parties and shopping are restricted, and so we have a unique opportunity to prayerfully and authentically prepare for Christ's coming.
Let's limit the secular celebration of Christmas and take up Advent's call to joyfully, and patiently, anticipate the real Christmas. Let's strive all the more to make Advent memorable. Not only because we are in a pandemic but instead because we strive to make more time for God. Let's not keep God socially distant. Instead, let us take more time in our lives for prayer, Mass, and Confession. Let's make it memorable with more good deeds and acts of charity for the poor and the needy, the sick and suffering. As we reduce the parties and shopping, let us joyfully increase faith, hope, and joy in our world, our families, and our parish.
We sing the ancient Advent chant, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," to remind us that Christ is coming. May our Advent prayer and devotion spur us to an awakening in our faith life and put us in a 'vigilant' disposition to wait for Our Lord Jesus who is coming.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI states: "Awaken! Remember that God comes! Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today, now! The one true God, 'the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob', is not a God who is there in Heaven, unconcerned with us and our history, but he is the-God-who-comes."
Be Well. Do Good. Stay Safe! Have a Blessed Advent! God Bless.