Daily Retreat 11/30/08
2008 Nov 30 SUN: FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Is 63: 16b-17. 19b; 64: 2-7/ Ps 79(80): 2-3. 15-16. 18-19 (4)/ 1 Cor 1: 3-9/ Mk 13: 33-37
From today’s readings: “O LORD, You are our father; we are the clay and You the potter: we are all the work of Your hands.... Lord, make us turn to You; let us see Your face and we shall be saved.... You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.... Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come....”
Advent Vigilance
After Jesus entered Jerusalem the week before He died, our Lord gave a series of intense instructions and warnings.... Wait a minute - doesn’t the Church begin today the season of Advent, the time of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Christ? Why then does this first Gospel reading of Advent focus our attention on the end of the life of Jesus?
Well, in a word: watch! “Watch, be vigilant, stay awake!” - the Lord’s urgent, repeated command to His disciples is the simple theme of this whole four week season of Advent, so it behooves you and me to make the most of this time of grace by carefully and conscientiously heeding the clear Word of the Lord.
But then, what are we to watch for, and why are we to be vigilant, what reason is there for staying awake? Our Lord Himself explained, “Watch, be vigilant, stay awake ... for the coming of the Lord!” And because He is God, His coming transcends time and space.
Yet all of us mortals still need time and space to grasp the significance of His coming into our lives. For, one dimension of the coming of the Lord, from our perspective, is connected with the past, when the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, and the Son of God and the very same Son of Mary was born in the stable simplicity of Bethlehem. We classify that as a event of the past, for, on our calendars, we note that over 2000 years have past since the premier of Christmas.
True, the coming of the Lord is thus already indelibly etched in the stone of historical fact, yet that particular historical fact is uniquely equally the heritage of all time and space! For although Americans, Canadians, Frenchmen and Germans (at least those without Greek ancestry) have no blood kinship with Socrates, all peoples, from Afghans to Zimbabweans, have equal claim to be recognized as full-blooded brothers and sisters of Christ! And even though modern Bolivians, Russians, Italians, and all contemporary citizens of every land may legitimately deny any allegiance to the code of laws enacted by Hammurabi, all peoples, even if they were to live in Atlantis or Utopia, or on another planet, would still be within the immediate and perennial jurisdiction of Christ, the Universal Lawgiver! Thus Isaiah and all the prophets warned the ancient Jews to rouse themselves from falling asleep when the Lord was talking to them, and to stay awake in clinging to the Lord and hoping in His Word. Clearly, that prophetic message is valid for all times and places.
So the coming of the Lord is not just a dusty deed of the past - the coming of the Lord also has a real present dimension, it’s something that’s upon us now, at this very present moment! For God wants us to recognize the falsehood of any time-trapped prejudice which would assume that He had budgeted more divine love for the Palestinians of 2000 years ago than He has for you and me and our contemporaries in this 21st century. Through Sacrament, Word, and Mystical Body, the coming of the Lord is here and now, as we watch to welcome Him into our lives, into our hearts.
And the coming of the Lord also has a future dimension, for Jesus spoke often of His return in glory. Although He never specified when that would happen, He offered a remarkably detailed preview of what would happen, "when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him. He will sit upon His glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before Him. And He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,” as we recall the words of the Gospel read last week on the Solemnity of Christ the King. So the coming of the Lord calls for utmost vigilance.
In the past, God sent His prophets to cry out to His people to watch, be vigilant, stay awake for the coming of the Lord! Some indeed watched, kept vigil, and were thus awake at the coming of the Lord, but others slumbered and closed their eyes to the Christmas presence, and missed the grace of that Advent time....
In the present, God sends His priests to cry out to His people to watch, be vigilant, stay awake for the coming of the Lord! Some indeed are now watching, and keeping vigil, and awake to the real Christmas presence, the present coming of the Lord, but others hibernate and close their eyes, dreaming only of material Christmas presents, and thus they miss the grace of this Advent time....
In the future, God will ever speak His Word through His prophets and priests who cry out to His people to watch, be vigilant, stay awake for the coming of the Lord! Some indeed will watch, keep vigil, and thus awake to the Lord’s Heavenly presence, but others will shut their eyes to the hellish nightmare of having missed the grace of Advent time....
“What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”
Is 63: 16b-17. 19b; 64: 2-7/ Ps 79(80): 2-3. 15-16. 18-19 (4)/ 1 Cor 1: 3-9/ Mk 13: 33-37
From today’s readings: “O LORD, You are our father; we are the clay and You the potter: we are all the work of Your hands.... Lord, make us turn to You; let us see Your face and we shall be saved.... You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.... Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come....”
Advent Vigilance
After Jesus entered Jerusalem the week before He died, our Lord gave a series of intense instructions and warnings.... Wait a minute - doesn’t the Church begin today the season of Advent, the time of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Christ? Why then does this first Gospel reading of Advent focus our attention on the end of the life of Jesus?
Well, in a word: watch! “Watch, be vigilant, stay awake!” - the Lord’s urgent, repeated command to His disciples is the simple theme of this whole four week season of Advent, so it behooves you and me to make the most of this time of grace by carefully and conscientiously heeding the clear Word of the Lord.
But then, what are we to watch for, and why are we to be vigilant, what reason is there for staying awake? Our Lord Himself explained, “Watch, be vigilant, stay awake ... for the coming of the Lord!” And because He is God, His coming transcends time and space.
Yet all of us mortals still need time and space to grasp the significance of His coming into our lives. For, one dimension of the coming of the Lord, from our perspective, is connected with the past, when the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, and the Son of God and the very same Son of Mary was born in the stable simplicity of Bethlehem. We classify that as a event of the past, for, on our calendars, we note that over 2000 years have past since the premier of Christmas.
True, the coming of the Lord is thus already indelibly etched in the stone of historical fact, yet that particular historical fact is uniquely equally the heritage of all time and space! For although Americans, Canadians, Frenchmen and Germans (at least those without Greek ancestry) have no blood kinship with Socrates, all peoples, from Afghans to Zimbabweans, have equal claim to be recognized as full-blooded brothers and sisters of Christ! And even though modern Bolivians, Russians, Italians, and all contemporary citizens of every land may legitimately deny any allegiance to the code of laws enacted by Hammurabi, all peoples, even if they were to live in Atlantis or Utopia, or on another planet, would still be within the immediate and perennial jurisdiction of Christ, the Universal Lawgiver! Thus Isaiah and all the prophets warned the ancient Jews to rouse themselves from falling asleep when the Lord was talking to them, and to stay awake in clinging to the Lord and hoping in His Word. Clearly, that prophetic message is valid for all times and places.
So the coming of the Lord is not just a dusty deed of the past - the coming of the Lord also has a real present dimension, it’s something that’s upon us now, at this very present moment! For God wants us to recognize the falsehood of any time-trapped prejudice which would assume that He had budgeted more divine love for the Palestinians of 2000 years ago than He has for you and me and our contemporaries in this 21st century. Through Sacrament, Word, and Mystical Body, the coming of the Lord is here and now, as we watch to welcome Him into our lives, into our hearts.
And the coming of the Lord also has a future dimension, for Jesus spoke often of His return in glory. Although He never specified when that would happen, He offered a remarkably detailed preview of what would happen, "when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him. He will sit upon His glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before Him. And He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,” as we recall the words of the Gospel read last week on the Solemnity of Christ the King. So the coming of the Lord calls for utmost vigilance.
In the past, God sent His prophets to cry out to His people to watch, be vigilant, stay awake for the coming of the Lord! Some indeed watched, kept vigil, and were thus awake at the coming of the Lord, but others slumbered and closed their eyes to the Christmas presence, and missed the grace of that Advent time....
In the present, God sends His priests to cry out to His people to watch, be vigilant, stay awake for the coming of the Lord! Some indeed are now watching, and keeping vigil, and awake to the real Christmas presence, the present coming of the Lord, but others hibernate and close their eyes, dreaming only of material Christmas presents, and thus they miss the grace of this Advent time....
In the future, God will ever speak His Word through His prophets and priests who cry out to His people to watch, be vigilant, stay awake for the coming of the Lord! Some indeed will watch, keep vigil, and thus awake to the Lord’s Heavenly presence, but others will shut their eyes to the hellish nightmare of having missed the grace of Advent time....
“What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”
posted by FrPitstick | 11/25/2008
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