Let me begin with this prayer of Psalm 32 which captures powerfully the mood and the atmosphere of this beautiful season of Advent – even in the midst of this pandemic and the darkness of one kind or another in our world:
The Lord delights on those who revere him,
on those who wait on His love,
To rescue their souls from death,
To keep them alive in famine.
Our soul is waiting for the Lord;
The Lord is our help and our shield.
In Him our hearts find joy,
We trust in His holy name.
May your love be upon us, O Lord
As we place all our hope in you.
Amen.
John preached repentance as a way of preparing for the coming of the Lord.
Christ has already come in Jesus of Nazareth. Christ will come again at the end of the world which we refer to as His second coming.
And during this in-between time – between the first and second coming - we watch, we wait and we prepare for Christ to come more fully in our lives and into our world… that His saving presence might become more manifested in our lives today… so that like Christ – we become the instruments of God’s love, grace and mercy.
The truth is – Jesus lives – and continues to be present among us – in us - He is with us but not yet visible. He is with us but not yet tangible. His presence is real but still an object of hope. He is with us but not yet experienced by our senses. And so - He is with us but still yet to come … like the embryo in the womb – we know it is there - but not yet showing.
And so – in that sense – as Christians – we are a people who recognize Jesus among us but hidden or concealed. We are waiting for Jesus to be fully present in our lives so that hopefully – eventually - we can say what St. Paul said: “It is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me.
Could there be any better way to prepare for the coming of Christ – whenever and however that might be - than to open the doors of our hearts to Christ? Christ is knocking, asking to be allowed inside our hearts and mind so he can heal us and make us whole again and restore us to full friendship with him.
Jesus proclaimed: The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand or has come near. Repent and believe in the Good News.
Jesus calls everyone to conversion. Conversion is more than turning away from sin but it is a process by which we gradually turn our hearts to God through repentance of our sins. Conversion is a daily struggle to become more Christlike in our attitudes towards others, in our thoughts, desires and choices.
… expressed in the change of our way of living… way of being.
Sad to say - People - live life - their own way. They turn to Christ for an hour, an hour on Sundays. That’s why they find Christianity so hard, because they really have not totally changed their lives or totally turned to God. They have not totally repented. They try to fit Christ into the way they live their life.
You see - If we turn to Christ only every once in a while, Christian life will be a difficult life. What Christ calls us to - is repentance – metanoia - for us to completely surrender to His love.
Repentance simply means honesty before God and with ourselves. Repentance is a proper assessment of oneself. It involves taking responsibility for one’s life… not making excuses… AND it is realizing that we are sinners and that we cannot save ourselves. … and so we need a Savior… a Messiah.
In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans (7:19): For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want… In other words, he realized that he was helpless to do the good he wanted to do and he ended up doing the bad things he did not want to do. We can all relate to that.
But did St. Paul give up? NO. What did he do? He knew he was helpless and that he needed a power - greater than any he had - to overcome evil - and live a good life - and that power came from Jesus Christ.
St. Paul wrote: “Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
That’s something we can all say: “I am miserable if I try to rely on my own will power but thanks be to God, we have a savior and His name is Jesus!
That’s why during Advent, we all sing the familiar hymn:
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Such a powerful language… let it sink into our hearts.
“Advent” means “coming.” During Advent, full of hope, we wait and prepare for Christmas when we celebrate the Incarnation – God becoming one of us in the flesh. Therefore, Incarnation means the coming of help from beyond ourselves… We are helpless and we are lost in the journey of life without Christ. Gospel means Good News and the Good News is about Jesus through whom God saves. The name Jesus means God saves. Jesus has come to lead a rescue mission, so to speak.
We are like captives held in ransom… meaning we are helpless and so, all we can say is: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”, the name which means God is with us, … “and ransom captive Israel” … and realize we are sinners and we stand in need of grace… to save us from slavery to sin which separates us from God… and that is the real death… separation from God.
The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we are loved sinners. You have to see yourself as both – loved by God and at the same time humbly admitting that we are sinners… and at the same time realizing that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
God accepts us and loves us - as we are, even in our failures and sin. God’s love is greater than our sin. God offers forgiveness and new life.
Pope Francis said of himself: “I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.”
Our salvation lies in accepting God’s forgiveness. God created us without our cooperation but God will not save us without our cooperation.
Jesus told St. Faustina as written in her diary: What offends God more than the actual sin we commit is our lack of trust in His Divine Mercy.
Like the crowds who asked John the Baptist, we ask: “What, then, should we do?”
We have received God’s grace as a gift. The only proper response to a gift is gratitude. We express our gratitude by doing for others what God in Christ has done for us… by being loving, being gracious and merciful to others, in other words, by living out the grace of God within us. It is not complicated.
In our Eucharistic celebration – Eucharist literally means thanksgiving - we receive the mercy of God and we are nourished with His Word and with His Body and in turn at the end of the Mass – we are sent to be the Bread of Life, to be the living sacrament of God’s love, grace and mercy for others. We have become what we have received.
We have the greatest of all gifts. We possess Jesus Christ… And Nothing else matters.
We need to keep this in mind. We are not made for this world alone. Our hearts will be restless until we are with God forever. So, in our life plans, we need to continue to watch and be on guard for things that would separate us from our communion with God, we need to continue to seek the will of God for us and prepare for Christ to become more alive in our lives and to keep heaven as our ultimate goal.
This Advent, as we prepare our homes for Christmas, let us remember that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is preparing a place in his home for you and me.
God bless…
