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| Summer at the front window: "He's back!" |
(First
Sunday of Advent (B): This homily was given on December 3, 2017 at St. Pius X
Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.
Read Mark 13: 33-37.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: First Sunday of Advent 2017]
What
does Jesus mean when he tells us to “watch”—as he does in today’s gospel text
from Mark 13?
What
kind of “watching” is he talking about here?
Is it the kind of watching we do at a football game? Or at a movie? Or when we turn on the television set?
The
answer, of course, is no.
Jesus
is talking here about something a lot deeper: something which involves our
eyes, for sure—but not only our
eyes. For Jesus, “watching” involves everything
about us: all our thoughts, and words, and actions. It involves our entire personhood.
To
“watch” in the sense that Jesus uses the term in this Scripture passage means
“to prepare yourself for a personal encounter—a personal encounter with the
living God that will definitely happen, although you don’t know when.”
In
speaking to us here about his second coming at the end of the world, Jesus
says, “Watch, therefore: you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at the cockcrow, or in the
morning. May he not come suddenly and
find you sleeping. What I say to you, I
say to all: ‘Watch!’”
In
other words, Jesus is saying, “Prepare yourself! Prepare yourself for the ultimate encounter
with me that every human being will have, either at the end of time (if you
live that long), or at the moment of your physical death (if you don’t happen
to survive until the end of time). And
do everything possible to remain in that state of preparedness—always!”
This
past Monday we had a funeral Mass here at St. Pius for a 51-year-old man who
died suddenly and tragically at work. I’m
sure many of you know the story. When
that man woke up on the morning of November 20, 2017, he didn’t know that the
“Lord of the house” was coming for him that day.
But the
Lord did come.
You
never know.
That’s
why “watching”—that’s why being prepared to meet the Lord whenever he does
choose to come—is so important.
Let
me share with you now a few insights on how to be a good “watcher” courtesy of
one of the very best “watchers” I know: the pastor’s dog! Yes, you heard me correctly: one of the best
“watchers” I know is Fr. Najim’s golden doodle, whose name is Summer. So you might want to entitle this homily:
“Watching Lessons from a Watching Dog”—although in Summer’s case she doesn’t
watch for Jesus, she watches for her master (who’s at the center of her
universe, as Jesus is supposed to be at the center of ours).
Her
watching, first of all, is constant—as
Jesus said ours is supposed to be. When
Fr. Najim is not around, Summer is always waiting (and usually looking) for him
to return. In fact, when he comes over
to church for Mass in the morning, she’ll very often take a seat on the couch
in his office and stare out the front widow—totally motionless—waiting for him
to come out the front door of the church and back to the rectory. And she’ll stay there for the entire
Mass! I’ve tried on several occasions to
coax her away from the window—to no avail.
She’ll just turn her head to look at me, and then turn right back to
window.
Wouldn’t
it be great if we “watched” for the Lord in our lives with that same kind of
devotion?
For
Summer, Fr. Najim is number 1, no doubt about it. She likes me—and the rectory staff—and the
children at the school—and pretty much everybody else. But, in her eyes there is no one like her
master! For her, he’s in another
category entirely—just like the Lord is supposed to be in his own category for
us! Jesus said we’re to love God (and
only God) with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. He’s to be first in our lives. And yet, how often do other people and other
things (like sports) take first place?
If we
want to be a good “watcher”, we have to follow Summer’s example and put our master—our
heavenly Master—where he belongs on our priority list.
And
we have to be attentive to him and his word—as Summer is attentive to Fr. Najim
and his word. I’m sure it won’t surprise
you to know that in a room full of people, Fr. Najim is the one she will
acknowledge first and listen to! Yes,
she’ll eventually make the rounds to try to get everyone in the place to pet
her and give her some affection, but when her master is present, he gets her
attention before anyone else does.
And
that’s the way it should be! Just as
when Jesus is present with us here at Mass (in word and in sacrament), he
deserves our attention—our full and undivided attention! And yet, how often are we thinking about
other things when we’re here (what we’re going to do after Mass; what we did
before Mass; how much more Christmas shopping we have to do; what we’re going
to have for lunch)?
Summer
doesn’t get distracted in the presence of her master; we need to pray not to
get distracted in the presence of ours.
Now
this is not to say that the relationship Summer has with her master is
perfect. It’s far from it. Without getting into all the colorful
details, let me simply say that there have been times when Fr. Najim’s golden
doodle has needed to “repent” (as much as dogs can) for something she did when
her master wasn’t looking! On more than
one occasion I’ve seen her walking around the rectory with her tail between her
legs.
But,
thankfully, her master has always forgiven her for her transgressions.
Our
divine Master will also forgive us for ours, if we repent—as hopefully we all will
during this season of Advent, by receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation.
Remember:
to “watch” means to prepare yourself for a personal encounter with the living
God at the end of your life or at the end of time—whichever comes first. Well, since we’re all sinners, being forgiven
for your sins is essential to that preparation process. It’s not optional!
It can’t be.
Which
brings us to the biggest difference between Summer and us with respect to “watching”—and
I’ll conclude with this thought:
The “watching”
Summer does in her life is done by nature, by instinct. Her daily vigil at the window; her devotion
to Fr. Najim; her attentiveness to his words; her “repentance” for her
“sins”—these are all instinctual responses.
And that’s fine, because she’s a dog.
But
for you and for me, watching is a decision—a
personal decision—a personal decision, rooted in grace, for which we are
responsible before God.
May
the Lord help us, therefore, to make
that decision, today and every day.
