Date: Sunday, November 27, 2016
At what point in our lives do we start repeating our parents? My Mom would say: “I don’t know if I am coming or going.” That is an apt phrase to describe Advent. “Advent” means “coming” i.e. God coming to us: at Bethlehem in the birth of Jesus; at the end, in the fullness of time; when we die; at worship and sacraments; and in quiet ordinary ways within the rhythm of daily life. But Advent is also our going to God. We sing in the Responsorial Psalm: “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” We are a pilgrim people (2nd Vatican Council) on a spiritual journey akin to Jewish people wandering in the desert and later climbing the Lord’s Mountain. Isaiah envisions all nations streaming to Jerusalem and to the temple. There, many people will be instructed by God and directed to walk in the light of the Lord. Along the way to the sacred place, the destination of our pilgrimage, we will discover God is already with us in the depth of our being and in the new world of justice and peace we will create together.
As a pilgrim people, we are challenged by the prophet Isaiah to beat our swords into plowshares, to disarm ourselves of weapons that hurt and harm others. I am not speaking of guns we may use for hunting or for personal safety/national security but the disposition of our hearts inclined to retaliate and to get even. St Paul writes to the Romans to throw off works of darkness (drunkenness, promiscuity, rivalry and jealousy) and to put on armor of light. Jesus urges us in the Gospel according to St. Matthew to be alert and to stay awake for the unexpected coming of the Day of the Lord.
Advent is a season of God’s coming to us and our going to God. We light the candles in our Advent Wreath to make sure God’s coming and our going will bring us together at Christmas.