Homily for the Week of December 2, 2012

First Sunday of Advent (C) 2012 Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thes 3:12-4:2 Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36 This is a great time of year! We have so many enjoyable things to do, and have many warm memories of Christmases past, and we enjoy the effort to make new Christmas memories. If this is the happiest season of all, then why does the Church give us such a bleak Gospel on the First Sunday of Advent. We want to celebrate, but today’s Gospel speaks of the frightening experience of the end of time. Perhaps one of the best reasons for being given our Gospel selection today can be found in the popular Christmas song, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year made famous by Andy Williams. The song is a description of activities associated with family get-togethers and gatherings of friends during the holiday season. It captures what many describe as the “spirit of the season.” While the song is full of merriment and fun, what is absent from the song is God. What the song does not acknowledge is that not everyone is happy at this time of year. Some families have relatives serving in military. Some families have loved ones who are critically ill or in hospice care. Many families are living in poverty. Many parents suffer anxiety because they cannot provide the kind of Christmas for their children that our culture says children should have. Many people have a job, a place to live, and no worries — except they are alone and lonely. Why does the Church give us a vision of the apocalypse on the First Sunday of Advent? It is because Christmas will make no sense unless we ponder how much we still need God. Today’s first reading describes Jeremiah as he witnessed the death throes of his nation. Judah and its capital Jerusalem had been conquered. The able-bodied intelligentsia had been taken into exile in Babylon. The leadership had been executed. And even more destruction loomed. Jeremiah placed the reason for Judah’s demise on one factor: It had lost its religious center; it had forgotten God. Through the years of domination, especially by Assyria, the Jews had gradually given up their faith, beliefs and identity in order to accommodate their oppressors. After almost 40 years of calling Judah back to its truths of faith and religious practices that had real meaning, Jeremiah had begun to realize that staying the course with Yahweh was humanly impossible. Earlier, Jeremiah had experienced some success and religious reform, but for every step forward in faith the nation seemed to take two steps back. Jeremiah deeply understood how desperately his people needed God. His story serves to remind us that although the people of Judah had lost their way and stood defeated and suffering, God’s promise to be faithful to them remained. God would restore from the stump of Jesse a new hope and a new relationship. The good news of Jeremiah was that God would help His people remember who they were. We must remember that the birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise. We must be very careful that, unlike the people of Judah, we don’t gradually surrender our faith, beliefs or religious celebrations in favor of secular replacements. We must remember what happens when people give up their faith and beliefs in order to accommodate other gods. We cannot afford to overlook Advent and zoom straight into Christmas. And, this year, Advent is more important than ever. It is in Advent that Paul tells us that we must “learn to make greater progress still.” Not only do we need our faith — the world needs our faith. We must remind ourselves how badly we need God. Or have our “spirits become bloated with indulgence and worldly cares” so that we no longer think we need God? Advent is our time to “be on the watch.” Advent is a message of encouragement to those for whom this is not the happiest season of all. Advent reminds us that each of us still needs God, and that with Him there is hope. Perhaps we should be a little somber in Advent so that the great joy of Christ’s birth makes more sense. Patience is a word or a quality that most of us would like to have more of, especially as we prepare for Christmas. In 23 days many of you will be gathered here in church for Christmas Mass. When the Bible mentions patience, it usually means active waiting and hoping. As we begin a new church year, as we will soon bless the Advent wreath and light one of its candles, let us focus for the next 23 days on the Advent virtues of patience, hope, joy and fidelity. Advent is a time of waiting and hoping, of renewing our trust in God’s merciful love and care and of reflecting on the several comings of Christ in our lives. The key New Testament word for Advent is “watching"— of keeping careful watch of ourselves and conducting our lives in such a way that we may be found blameless and holy before God. Advent is also a time for proclaiming an end to the actions of our life that prevent us from giving birth. And because death is so difficult and so much to be avoided, then Advent, in a spiritual sense, can be considered as a time of suffering and self-denial. Advent comes at the shortest days of the year, the darkest of days almost as a reminder that we must take an honest look at how our lives can easily be filled with darkness. Advent is a time for us to admit that the coldness within us can hurt as much as the coldness our bodies sense from the outside. But the hope of Advent is not that Jesus will come at the end of time -- it is not that Jesus will come some time in the future --not even as far away as tomorrow - but right now. Advent is taking place right now. But we must stay awake or we will miss His coming. This Advent, as we wait for Christmas, let each of us try to accept delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.