The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary for the beginning of Advent resonate with our looking forward to the Peace on Earth offered by Christ and our spiritual darkness seeking the light of Love as we ponder the conclusion of our mortal journey.
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| Advent dispelling darkness |
The reading from the Prophet Isaiah describes Jerusalem as the future House of God.
* [2:4] Once the nations acknowledge God as sovereign, they go up to Jerusalem to settle their disputes, rather than having recourse to war.1
Psalm 122 is a song of Praise and Prayer for Jerusalem.
* [Psalm 122] A song of Zion, sung by pilgrims obeying the law to visit Jerusalem three times on a journey. The singer anticipates joining the procession into the city (Ps 122:1–3). Jerusalem is a place of encounter, where the people praise God (Ps 122:4) and hear the divine justice mediated by the king (Ps 122:5). The very buildings bespeak God’s power (cf. Ps 48:13–15). May the grace of this place transform the people’s lives (Ps 122:6–9)!2
The passage from the Letter to the Romans is an urgent appeal by Paul for awareness of the End of Time.
* [13:13] Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day: the behavior described in Rom 1:29–30 is now to be reversed. Secular moralists were fond of making references to people who could not wait for nightfall to do their carousing. Paul says that Christians claim to be people of the new day that will dawn with the return of Christ. Instead of planning for nighttime behavior they should be concentrating on conduct that is consonant with avowed interest in the Lord’s return.3
The Gospel of Matthew recognizes our interest in the Lord’s return but the exact time of the parousia is known only to the Father.
* [24:36–44] The statement of Mt 24:34 is now counterbalanced by one that declares that the exact time of the parousia is known only to the Father (Mt 24:36), and the disciples are warned to be always ready for it. This section is drawn from Mark and Q (cf. Lk 17:26–27, 34–35; 12:39–40).4
Amy Hoover was quickly reminded that the invitation is to remember that Christ is always and everywhere present.
To lean into, rely on and trust in that presence. Christ is the Light in the midst of darkness, if we can only choose to open our eyes, turn our face, choose the perspective that shows us that, Christ will keep us awake.
Christ Be Our Light!5
Don Schwager quotes “Finding the pearl of great price,” by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD).
"All who listen to the depths of the gospel and live it so completely that none of it remains veiled from them care very little about whether the end of the world will come suddenly and all at once or gradually and little by little. Instead, they bear in mind only that each individual’s end or death will arrive on a day and hour unknown to him and that upon each one of us 'the day of the Lord will come like a thief' (1 Thessalonians 5:2). It is important therefore to be vigilant, whether in the evening (that is, in one's youth) or in the middle of the night (that is, at human life's darkest hour) or when the cock crows (at full maturity) or in the morning (when one is well advanced in old age)."When God the Word comes and brings an end to the progress of this life, he will gather up the one who gave 'no sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids' (Psalm 132:4) and kept the commandment of the One who said, 'Be vigilant at all times' (Luke 21:36). ...But I know another kind of end for the righteous person who is able to say along with the apostle, 'Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world' (Galatians 6:14). In a certain sense, the end of the world has already come for the person to whom the world is crucified. And to one who is dead to worldly things the day of the Lord has already arrived, for the Son of man comes to the soul of the one who no longer lives for sin or for the world." (excerpt Commentary on Matthew 56)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 24:37-44 comments as we decide what we will give Jesus, remember: it’s not only about what we do to get ready for his coming. It’s also about what he wants to do for us.
• As you sit before him in adoration, he wants to give you his peace.
• As you reach out to the needy, he wants to encounter you in his beloved poor.
• As you go to Confession, he wants to fill you with his mercy.
• As you forgive other people, he wants to help heal your wounded relationships.
Jesus is so generous that he wants to help you get ready for him. So slow down this Advent, and let him give you the gift of a willing heart.
“Jesus, I long for your coming. Help me to get ready!”7
Friar Jude Winkler explains how David established Jerusalem as a holy city. Paul urges us to abandon our lives as people of the dark. Friar Jude explains that rapture as understood by some Christians is not a Roman Catholic understanding. He reminds us that Advent stirs our contemplation of Jesus coming to Bethlehem and returning at the end of time.
Suzanne Guthrie's Meditation is connected to the Church year begins with the ending of time itself.
The unfolding of this vision of the end of time is meant to shake you awake, toward repentance and conversion, changing, turning you around so that you might be fit to bear Love. Contemplating the end of time itself, opens a new kind of time. Now it is time to enter Sacred Time.
Something New begins. And to perceive it, the church asks you to enter into another dimension, to take the path diverging off chronological time, to enter the series of sacred events leading toward the birth, the teaching, the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and then, the descent of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit sends you out into the suffering world to be the loving Kingdom. And then, you walk in two kinds of time in the same world. Because the sacred world is all about helping to fulfill the holiness of the temporal one.
Apocalypse means “revelation.” It is time to enter the Revelation of time unfolding like an open door – inviting you and me onto the difficult path of Love.
Awaken me. Awaken my cold heart. Make me fit for the path to which You call me. Help me to bear your Love in this world.8
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Advent was once (and still can be) a time of waiting, a time of hoping without knowing, a time of emptying so that we can be filled by the divine Presence. Though we may be wrapping gifts, planning special meals, and spending time with family and friends, he hopes we will also take time to allow the Advent darkness to do its work as well.
Scriptures do not offer rational certitude. They offer us something much better, an entirely different way of knowing: an intimate relationship, a dark journey, a path where we must discover for ourselves that grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness are absolutely necessary for survival in an uncertain world. You only need enough clarity to know how to live without certitude! Yes, we really are saved by faith. People who live in this way never stop growing, are not easily defeated, are wise and compassionate, and frankly, are fun to live with. They have a quiet and confident joy. Infantile religion insists on certainty every step of the way and thus is not very happy.9
The season of Advent is an opportunity, as Fr Richard suggests, to allow ourselves to begin to see in the dark and move toward the light of Love.
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