Daily Retreat 12/03/06
2006 Dec 3 FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Jer 33:14-16; Ps 24(25):4-5,8-9,10,14; 1 Thes 3:12 – 4:2; Lk 21:25-28, 34-36
From today’s readings: “The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.... To You, O Lord, I lift my soul.... May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all.... And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
Don’t Open Until Christmas?
I wonder how many tantalizingly wrapped packages there are in the mail, or perhaps already somewhere in your house, protected from greedy hands with nothing but those four hexing words: “Don’t open 'til Christmas!”
Some might even suggest that those words express the whole theme of Advent, this Church season of the four Sundays before Christmas, this sacred time of preparation for the comings of Christ, when God’s people are invited to read anew the Scriptures which once prepared the way for the Lord’s historical coming in the fullness of time, and still prepare God’s vigilant people awaiting the second coming of Christ at the end of time.
Yes, those presents do need to be left alone until Christmas, and, in the spirit of Advent season, singing Christmas carols is indeed more properly saved for Christmas season, as is the full glorious array of holiday home decorations, and best festive dress, and the whole arc of yuletide celebrations.
But that’s not to suggest that everything around and about us is now stamped “Don’t open till Christmas.” In fact, there are a few major items that, by all means, should be opened today at the beginning and throughout the whole of this Advent season.
First of all, our eyes need to be opened! This doesn’t mean that we need to open our eyes to snoop around for presents coming our way, not is it a matter of keeping a sharp lookout for last minute bargains. Our eyes need to be opened so that they can be used for the very reason God gave us sight: so that we can look for Him!
And our hearts too need to be opened, so that they can be used for the very reason God knit together our inmost being: as a humble home, yet sacred temple, in which to welcome Him!
And our arms also need to be open, so that they can be used for the very reason God invests us with the raiment of all our strength and abilities: so that we can embrace Him!
We look for Him in our past, as we read anew the words of Jeremiah and the other prophets of the Old Testament, and recall how God promised to raise up a just shoot for the House of David. Open your eyes to that, and to the other prophecies which once prepared His chosen people to recognize His Son, and see how God likewise prepares us to recognize Him in Scripture, in sacraments, in His Church, in prayer, and in the least of His brothers!
And when our open eyes recognize His presence in all these ways, then can we receive Him all the more into our hearts. But not if there’s no room in the inn of our hearts! For didn’t Christ Himself warn us: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life!” So first, our hearts must be opened (if necessary, perhaps even pried open!) in order to be emptied of unworthy and troublesome tenants: evict all evildoing, oust anger and bitterness, dislodge despair, serve notice to selfishness, then cast them all out in the confessional! Only when we live every day as God teaches, will our hearts then open as a welcoming and stable home, a loving place for Him to lay His head. As St. Paul writes, “.... strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord.....”
And when our open hearts receive Him wholly into our lives, then at last the future appears of the fullest divine embrace. For too often in our past, we’ve held the Christ Child close to us but a moment, then set Him aside to free our arms to hold lesser things. But now, this Advent, we open our arms to meet those arms of Christ nailed open for all ages, and we pray to be taken up fully in His loving embrace when at last the Son of Man comes in a cloud with power and great glory.
So indeed there are some things we must not wait to open till Christmas! Instead, today, and more and more during this Advent season and throughout all coming seasons of our lives, may our eyes be open to see God clearly in the many ways He comes to us, may our hearts be open to receive God completely in the many ways He comes to us, and may our arms be open to embrace God fully in all the many ways He comes to us!
Jer 33:14-16; Ps 24(25):4-5,8-9,10,14; 1 Thes 3:12 – 4:2; Lk 21:25-28, 34-36
From today’s readings: “The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.... To You, O Lord, I lift my soul.... May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all.... And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
Don’t Open Until Christmas?
I wonder how many tantalizingly wrapped packages there are in the mail, or perhaps already somewhere in your house, protected from greedy hands with nothing but those four hexing words: “Don’t open 'til Christmas!”
Some might even suggest that those words express the whole theme of Advent, this Church season of the four Sundays before Christmas, this sacred time of preparation for the comings of Christ, when God’s people are invited to read anew the Scriptures which once prepared the way for the Lord’s historical coming in the fullness of time, and still prepare God’s vigilant people awaiting the second coming of Christ at the end of time.
Yes, those presents do need to be left alone until Christmas, and, in the spirit of Advent season, singing Christmas carols is indeed more properly saved for Christmas season, as is the full glorious array of holiday home decorations, and best festive dress, and the whole arc of yuletide celebrations.
But that’s not to suggest that everything around and about us is now stamped “Don’t open till Christmas.” In fact, there are a few major items that, by all means, should be opened today at the beginning and throughout the whole of this Advent season.
First of all, our eyes need to be opened! This doesn’t mean that we need to open our eyes to snoop around for presents coming our way, not is it a matter of keeping a sharp lookout for last minute bargains. Our eyes need to be opened so that they can be used for the very reason God gave us sight: so that we can look for Him!
And our hearts too need to be opened, so that they can be used for the very reason God knit together our inmost being: as a humble home, yet sacred temple, in which to welcome Him!
And our arms also need to be open, so that they can be used for the very reason God invests us with the raiment of all our strength and abilities: so that we can embrace Him!
We look for Him in our past, as we read anew the words of Jeremiah and the other prophets of the Old Testament, and recall how God promised to raise up a just shoot for the House of David. Open your eyes to that, and to the other prophecies which once prepared His chosen people to recognize His Son, and see how God likewise prepares us to recognize Him in Scripture, in sacraments, in His Church, in prayer, and in the least of His brothers!
And when our open eyes recognize His presence in all these ways, then can we receive Him all the more into our hearts. But not if there’s no room in the inn of our hearts! For didn’t Christ Himself warn us: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life!” So first, our hearts must be opened (if necessary, perhaps even pried open!) in order to be emptied of unworthy and troublesome tenants: evict all evildoing, oust anger and bitterness, dislodge despair, serve notice to selfishness, then cast them all out in the confessional! Only when we live every day as God teaches, will our hearts then open as a welcoming and stable home, a loving place for Him to lay His head. As St. Paul writes, “.... strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord.....”
And when our open hearts receive Him wholly into our lives, then at last the future appears of the fullest divine embrace. For too often in our past, we’ve held the Christ Child close to us but a moment, then set Him aside to free our arms to hold lesser things. But now, this Advent, we open our arms to meet those arms of Christ nailed open for all ages, and we pray to be taken up fully in His loving embrace when at last the Son of Man comes in a cloud with power and great glory.
So indeed there are some things we must not wait to open till Christmas! Instead, today, and more and more during this Advent season and throughout all coming seasons of our lives, may our eyes be open to see God clearly in the many ways He comes to us, may our hearts be open to receive God completely in the many ways He comes to us, and may our arms be open to embrace God fully in all the many ways He comes to us!
posted by FrPitstick | 12/05/2006
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