First Sunday of Advent

Advent is meant to wake us up to the life that we take for granted, the world that needs conversion, and the Word that ignites them both.  And it seems that Jesus himself deploys these very tools of personal insight – a prophetic look at culture and the Scripture that interprets them.  It is fascinating to see Jesus interpret his own tradition given to him in the Hebrew Scriptures.  The Word unfolding the Word.

Noah is a kind of biblical lens for Jesus, an analogy for how he interprets his own role as Son of Man.  Just as the flood came unawares in the days of Noah, so the Son of Man will come.  Without warning, he comes.  It must have been a real shock to some of those people in Jesus’ time.  Some of them probably stood there, much as we stand, our arms folded, as if to dare anything or anybody to move us, or even worse, as if we were asleep or uncaring.

But then: suddenly comes the preacher.  Jesus is reminding us not only of the Second Coming, but of his coming as Word, that which will break through and announce the kingdom of God.  Yes, this Advent, too, can catch us unawares.  Only those who are keen to listen with open ears will be made new.  No wonder Paul, the great prophet for the Gentiles, says: “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.  For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

This is a day, then, for prophets and preachers and poets to point to God’s inbreaking rule of justice for all people.  There is no more perfect penitential rite for this day than the one suggested in the Roman Missal: “Lord Jesus, you came to gather the nations into the peace of God’s Kingdom; Lord, have mercy.”  Do we realize this wake-up call as an announcement of endless charity and justice?  This is a sobering thought.  The kingdom is coming – now. 

We are wise to stop everything to celebrate Christmas, as both a past miracle and a timeless mystery.  God is in the world now as the body of the Risen Christ, whose redemptive presence and activity are the life we share and the only purpose of the church.  The year ending has added urgency to pastoral outreach and the prophetic cry for economic and environmental change as a matter of survival of the planet and the common good of humanity. 

Even though the Holy Year of Mercy formally ended last Sunday, the practice of mercy and forgiveness continue because they are the essence of the gospel and every disciple’s way of life.  The divine face of mercy revealed by Jesus comes to stay in our lives, entering through the door of our hearts only to lead us out again to share God’s unconditional love.  Pope Francis reminds us that encounter and surprise are more important than any orthodoxy of ideas and rules.

It is hard to imagine what the crashing of the kingdom into our midst will be like as imagined by Jesus, the bringer of that reign.  We have a clue since that reign has already begun.  Jesus has ushered in that kingdom and given us the hope of its fulfillment.  As one of the Prefaces for the Advent season reminds us, “Now we watch for the day, hoping that the salvation promised us will be ours, when Christ our Lord will come again in his glory.”

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor