Homily for the First Sunday of Advent (Year A)

Listening to the words of Our Lord and Saint Paul, a glaring contradiction appears to arise concerning Our Lord’s Second Coming. The Lord warns: “At an hour you do not expect…” - but - St. Paul writes: “You know the time; the hour is now.”

The apparent contradiction, however, is overcome when we understand the Kingdom of God as both present — and — yet-to-come.

There is some urgency in both their voices that brings unity out of contradiction. So, the words we hear are not a scary warning, but words of encouragement.

In looking ahead to the possibilities inherent in hope for the Coming of the Kingdom, Our Lord tells us how to think, and St. Paul tells us how to act. Both the Lord and St. Paul speak to us of wakefulness: Our Lord says, “Stay awake! Be prepared…” and St. Paul says, “Awake from your sleep… make no provision for earthly desires.”

These put me in my mind of my Dad’s exasperation with me when I was a spacey and forgetful boy: “Snap out of your dream world…” he would say, or “Get your head out of the clouds.”

Our Lord and the Apostles are not simply recommending a “spiritual insomnia” here, but encouraging us to be vigilant in the spiritual life in order to hear the Advent and Christmas Gospels with new ears that take us beyond mere nostalgia so that these Gospel stories give real hope for our lives, especially when difficulties arise, be they personal… family… church… or the world.

The Church in Advent offers more than a historical recollection of ancient, though important, events, but instructs us:
+to participate in the very life of Christ,
+to know the Christ of Christmas
+to become Christ present to others, especially those who have cast Him aside.

Here are what some notable Catholics have said about this:

Archbishop Fulton Sheen:
“Jesus is not an example to be copied, but a veritable life to be lived.”

Dominican Father Sebastian White
“Our Advent hope might be that just as the Holy Spirit came upon the Blessed Virgin, and the Word became flesh, so the Spirit can work a similar marvel within each of us through the Gospels and the Sacraments of Advent.” (Reconciliation)

The 20th-century Catholic Writer Caryll Houselander
“The reason why we are where we are this Christmas: in this house… this family… this workplace.. this parish… is because it is here in this place that Christ wants to be born… from here that He wants His life to begin again in the world.”

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, praying:
“O consuming fire, Spirit of love, come upon me and create in my soul a kind of Incarnation of Christ, that I may be another humanity for Him in which He can renew His whole mystery.”

May I conclude by suggesting that you allow this fresh observance of Advent to give you another “go at,” another insight into the mystery of Our Lord’s holy Birth, that your joy in the Christmas story might stir your heart and renew your spirit.