Advent. Vigilance (2023-12-03)

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Homily file for December 3, 2023  ● 1^st Sunday Advent   ● Isaiah 63:16b-17, 64:2-7 ● Psalm ● 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 ● Mark 13:33-37 ●  

  [_01__]   Advent is a season of vigilance. This vigilance and watching are themes of the Gospel today. Several years ago, I had an unexpected accident on a street that was very familiar to me, where I took safety for granted. Not so safe that day! It was a sunny weekday, around 2 pm. Stepping off the curb into the roadway, I was knocked to the ground by a bicycle messenger whom I had NOT seen coming -- due to a moving van obstructing my view. The sudden encounter left me trembling and in shock.   The bicycle messenger was an obstacle to me, but I was also an obstacle to him!

Fortunately, neither of us sustained any injuries, and we parted ways without involving authorities or even really talking to each other.

How could I have avoided this trouble? This led me to consider "Advent," not in the sense of waiting on the sidewalk spiritually for Jesus to come along….but to remember that He is already present. And, also to remember what happened after I got knocked down and how important it is to recognize you and I are not alone in this world.

[_02__]       And, given His Presence, will I be an obstacle to JC? Will I prepare his way? 

Jesus makes himself present in three distinct ways: the 1^st  Coming in history, the 2^nd Coming in majesty to judge the living and dead, and the 3rd Coming in mystery.

It is this 3^rd way, the mystery, that I suggest we focus on.

Our faith in the Gospel, as Pope Benedict XVI (B16) wrote is not simply about an experience that is going to be simply informative. Yes, being informed is good.

But, B16 emphasizes that our faith is in God’s word because his word is not just informative “data” but a “performative” action. And, we are called to allow God to act in our lives.

[_03__]       [Getting Out of the Way]

How do I get in the way, I get in the Lord's Way?  How am I an obstacle?

I am an obstacle to the Lord’s way, when I am so personally offended when things go the wrong way in my life, and I make things more of a problem than they really are. 

I am an obstacle when I am too discouraged by lack of results. As the saying goes, I often want to build the city of Rome in 1 day. I am impatient. And while my impatience sometimes makes me work harder, it sometimes has the opposite effect of making me indifferent, lazy and arrogant. 

 

[_04__]      [The Fourth Coming: You ! ]

          But, it has also been my experience, that when something is troubling me, that being in church or in a chapel where Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament will calm my fears  and often give me some insight not only for what I can do.

          The trouble with me is that sometimes I don’t come to Him in person in a timely fashion. Sometimes, I stay way. Do you ever stay away?

But, when I come to God really in humility, I can be helped in a new way with new words.  

          So, there are 3 comings of Jesus- but there is a 4^th coming – your appearance, my appearance, our cooperation with God’s grace and performance in our lives.

[_05__]   Jesus invites us to come to him, understanding our struggles through his own life experiences. The church serves as a place where we can engage in a personal conversation with Jesus, our confidante and trusted friend. This interaction is not confined to the church building; it is a practice we are called to incorporate into our daily lives wherever we are.

    On the day of my little accident, which left me physically unscathed, I was trembling and shaking, I one thing I realized, as I brushed myself off and got up from the ground, and I was on my way to see my co workers, I thought to myself, What am I going to say, now, I'm feeling kind of embarrassed about what happened. I wasn't used to disclosing my personal emotions so much to my co workers, this was work. After all, we work together, we weren't necessarily close friends. And I almost wasn't going to say anything about the incident. 

    So I went to see my boss, who was a very good boss, and my co workers who were good co workers, we had our little meeting at the end of the meeting, I shared with them what happened. And I was almost surprised at their sympathy for me, we immediately started talking about the street and how dangerous it was. So I experienced support at that moment, when something is troubling us, we do need people who are going to be supportive, it might not be somebody who's going to just wag somebody, they could have wag their finger at me and said, hey, you need to look up, we have to get off the curb. That wasn't the conversation, the conversation was looking at how dangerous life can be, how difficult things can be. And we need friends who will sympathize with us in that way. Maybe not, were necessarily going to solve our problems for us. But just listen, to sympathize. 

    So for example, if you're married, you may need somebody who's married to understand how challenging marriage can be. If you're a mother or a father, to understand someone else to understand how challenging being a mother or father can be a priest, I need somebody who can understand the challenges of being a priest, not somebody who's going to look over my shoulder and say, you got to do better here. But somebody who can understand and we all need those who will sympathize with us. Fortunately, there was somebody on the other end of the line for me that day, when I needed somebody to talk to, you may leave here today from church alone, you may not have somebody on the other end of the line immediately to talk to this is but you aren't we aren't coming here together to pray for each other. People are praying for you whom you don't even know. And also to remember that our conversation and relationship with God is built up by our coming to church so that we can talk to Jesus about what is troubling us. And we can recognize that he is also talking to us. At times it is difficult to bring certain things up. For example, you might have a fear I might have a fear about going to confession to confess our sins. That can sometimes be intimidating. 

    But I assure you, the priest is not there to shake you up or to shake you down. But to help you to know God's mercy in your life. You might have a fear about talking to someone in your life, something difficult in your life that you might fear bringing up. That's something to bring to prayer first to say, Lord help me to communicate this. Give me the words to say because sometimes the thing that we fear saying is exactly what we are supposed to say or talk about it truthfully, charitably, lovingly to others. Advent reminds us that we are called to watch out for Jesus, that He is already here and that we can watch for him each day.