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| “Advent and Triumph of Christ” by Hans Memling, 1480 |
As this Advent season
begins we offer this passage from “The Spirit of Advent” by Mark Searle[4]
“Human beings cannot live
without hope. Unlike the animals, we are
blessed -or cursed- with the ability to think about the future and to fear our
actions to shaping it. So essential is
this to human life, that human beings cannot live without hope, without
something to live for, without something to look forward to. To be without hope, to have nothing to live
for, is to surrender to death in despair.
But we can find all sorts of things to live for and we can hope for
almost anything for some measure of success or security or for the realization
of some more or less modest ambition; for our children, that they might be
saved from our mistakes and sufferings and find a better life than we have
known, for a better world, throwing ourselves into politics or medicine or
technology so that future generations might be better off. Not all these forms of hope are selfish;
indeed, they have given dignity and purpose to the lives of countless
generations.
But one of the reasons why
we read the Old Testament during Advent is to learn what to hope for. The peoples of the Old Testament had the
courage to hope for big things; that the desert would be turned into fertile land;
that their scattered and divided people would eventually be gathered again;
that the blind would see, the deaf hear, the lame walk; that not only their own
people but all peoples of the earth, would be united in the blessings of
everlasting peace. Clearly, their hopes
were no different from ours or from any human being’s; lasting peace, tranquil
lives, sufficiency of food, an end to suffering, pain and misery.
Thus we hope for the same
things as the Old Testament people for their hopes are not yet realized. But we differ from them in two ways. First, the coming of Jesus in history, as a
partial fulfillment of God’s promise, immeasurably confirms and strengthens our
hope. Secondly, we differ from the Old
Testament people because Jesus has revealed to us that God is not afar off, but
is already in our midst. Hence the
importance in the Advent liturgy of John the Baptist and Mary; because they
recognized the new situation, they serve as models for the Church in discerning
the presence of our Savior in the world.”
Reading 1:
Isaiah 2:1-5
This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz,
saw concerning Judah
and Jerusalem
In days to come,
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain
and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it;
many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.”
For from Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem
He shall judge between the nations,
and impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
one nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.
O house of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord!
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Commentary on
Is 2:1-5
We are given in this reading, Isaiah’s vision of a time of unity,
the great messianic destiny. He sees a
time when all peoples will recognize God as the one true God and flock to call. (Isaiah uses the “highest mountain” metaphor
in the Hebrew context. High places were
places closet to God. Mountain tops
frequently were places were altars were built.
“Highest” would then be above all others.)
The prophet sees the Law of the Lord governing all peoples and a
time of great peace as a result of the universal unity of people in
faithfulness to God. “O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”
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Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 122: 1-2,
3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. Let us go
rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the Lord.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
R. Let us go
rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord.
R. Let us go
rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
According to the decree for Israel
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
R. Let us go
rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem
May those who love you prosper!
May peace be within your walls,
prosperity in your buildings.
R. Let us go
rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Because of my brothers and friends
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
Because of the house of the Lord, our God,
I will pray for your good.
R. Let us go
rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
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Commentary on
Ps 122: 1-2,
3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Psalm 122 is a song of praise that anticipates the great
procession into God’s house. While the
Hebrews would have used this as a literal processional song, we see it as
anticipating our entry into the New Jerusalem, the Kingdom of God
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Reading II:
Romans 13:11-14
Brothers and sisters:
You know the time;
it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.
For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed;
the night is advanced, the day is at hand.
Let us then throw off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light;
let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day,
not in orgies and drunkenness,
not in promiscuity and lust,
not in rivalry and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
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Commentary on
Rom 13:11-14
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Gospel:
Matthew
24:37-44
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
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Commentary on
Mt 24:37-44
The second section of the reading gives an analogy of the final
judgment being likened to a thief who breaks in at night, unexpected, and makes
off with all that is valued. The clear
message taken from this reading is the call to preparedness and constant
vigilance.
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Reflection:
Happy New Year! Indeed,
this is what we celebrate today as the old liturgical year ends and we begin
once more the march through the seasons of Christ’s life, walking with him from
those first infant steps in Bethlehem and Nazareth to his agonizing trail from
Gethsemane to Golgotha. Like the New
Year celebration that marks the end of our calendar year, we begin this new
liturgical year with hopes and promises.
The enormity of what takes place is beautifully captured in our
Catechism of the Catholic Church -
522 The coming of God's Son to earth is an event
of such immensity that God willed to prepare for it over centuries. He makes
everything converge on Christ: all the rituals and sacrifices, figures and
symbols of the "First Covenant".195
He announces him through the mouths of the prophets who succeeded one another
in Israel. Moreover, he awakens in the hearts of the pagans a dim expectation
of this coming.
This eternal announcement is epitomized in the statement found in
the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: “…the
mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and
raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it”. From far back
in our memory as a people of God, constituted as his living body on earth we
have celebrated this season with acts of piety centered around three major
efforts:
1. To prepare themselves worthily to celebrate
the anniversary of the Lord's coming into the world as the incarnate God of
love,
2. Thus to make their souls fitting abodes for
the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and
3.
Thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at
the end of the world.[5]
Once
again the more modern expression of our Advent mission comes from the Catechism
of Catholic Church:
524 When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she
makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the
long preparation for the Savior's first coming, the faithful renew their ardent
desire for his second coming.200 By celebrating the precursor's
birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: "He must
increase, but I must decrease."201
With
luck in the United States, the orgy of the commercialization of the season
“Black Friday” has blunted our focus on the secularization of the season and we
can now focus on what is truly important – our spiritual growth toward becoming
a vessel fitting for the Holy Spirit and a resting place of Christ himself. Our celebration of this festival day surely
marks the beginning of our new pledge of fidelity and our hopes for the year to
come. Yet hopes and faith alone will not
accomplish what the Lord wants from us.
We must search our hearts and our actions of the past year and select
from among our many sinful actions, those which, in this year of grace, we will
correct. Like a pot used from many
years, the stains of use are upon us. We
must choose which of those stains to scour clean.
Today,
on this solemn feast, let us rejoice with the ancient song “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the
Lord.” Our Advent season has begun
and our time of introspection is at hand as we await the glorious coming of our
Savior and Lord.
Pax
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture used today is “Advent and Triumph of Christ” by Hans Memling, 1480
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
Searle, Mark, “The Spirit of Advent”, Assembly
V. 7-1, © Notre Dame Center for
Liturgy, Notre Dame, IN.
195 Hebrews 9:15.
[5]
Mershman, Francis.
"Advent." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York
200 Cf Revelation 22:17.
201 John 3:30.
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