You could call it, “Fr. Ray’s
Advent Equation.”
More about that in a minute.
Advent is supposed to be about preparation. It’s supposed to be about preparing to
celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Christmas Day, and
it’s supposed to be about preparing ourselves to meet the Lord face to face at
the end of the world or at the end of our earthly lives (whichever comes
first!).
But for many people Advent is almost
exclusively about celebration—the
kind of celebration that should be reserved, primarily, for Christmas and for
the Christmas season (which lasts from December 25th until
mid-January).
Now I’m not saying that we
shouldn’t go to any Christmas parties or do any celebrating whatsoever before
the 25th of December, but I am saying that our primary focus during these 4 weeks of Advent should be on preparing
ourselves spiritually for the Lord’s coming.
Everything else should be
secondary—and that includes partying and baking and (dare I say it?) shopping!
In this regard, Bishop Sheen used
to say that there are two philosophies of life.
The first is the Christian one.
Sheen expressed that philosophy in the following way: “The fast, and
then the feast.” Applying that insight
to this time of the year: for Christians like us Advent should be a time to “fast”
(in other words, to discipline ourselves and prepare ourselves spiritually), so
that we can truly “feast” and rejoice on Christmas Day—and throughout the
entire Christmas season!
But, unfortunately, many
professed Christians approach these 4 weeks of the year with what Bishop Sheen
would call, “The worldly philosophy of life.”
And he had a great way of explaining that one. He said the Christian philosophy is “The
fast, then the feast” whereas the worldly philosophy of life is, “The feast—and
then the headache”!
Sheen gives us a great insight
there—which applies to more than just those people who get hung over after
Christmas parties! The insight he gives
us is that the quality of our preparation
directly affects the quality of our celebration! Thus when there’s little or no preparation at
all, the celebration ultimately leaves us empty.
And that’s the way it is for many
people at this time of year, is it not?
Let’s face it, the world is into Christmas “feasting” already! In fact, nowadays our secular world is in full
“Christmas mode” from Halloween until December 25! And many Christians get swept away in the
frenzy! It’s go-go-go, and
shop-shop-shop, and party-party-party for almost two months; and then, on December
25, it’s all over. “Finito,” as the
Italians would say! And those who make
the mistake of getting swept away in the hoopla are no different, no better, no
closer to God than they were on October 30th!
What they are, of course, is
exhausted—totally exhausted—and they need at least two weeks to recover from it
all.
The feast, and then the headache!
The sad reality is that, because
these men and women completely bypass their preparation during the season of
Advent, their celebration of Christmas is ultimately unfulfilling.
Now this is where my “Advent
equation” (which I mentioned at the beginning of my homily) comes into the
picture and becomes important.
Let me explain.
As I see it, 3 things are
necessary to properly prepare for a truly fulfilling and meaningful celebration
of Christmas.
The first is contemplation. If we want
the coming of Christ to mean something to us, we need to spend some time
pondering what it actually meant for God to become man in that event we call
the Incarnation. What did it mean for
the world? What does it mean for me and for my life right now?
One great way to do that is to
come to daily Mass during Advent, because most of the readings during these 4
weeks are built around this theme: we hear many of the Old Testament prophecies
about the coming of the Messiah (especially from the book of the prophet
Isaiah), and we hear about the events surrounding our Lord’s birth.
If you can’t get to daily Mass
you can still access the readings on-line or in a publication like the Magnificat,
and you can read them during your personal prayer time each day at home.
Everyone here has a regular,
daily, personal prayer time, right?
Well, everyone should!
Notice what St. Paul says in
today’s second reading from Philippians 1.
He says, “This is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and
more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so
that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”
Of course, none of that will
happen without contemplation (which, obviously, is just another word for
prayer).
Next comes reconciliation. Proper advent
preparation requires contemplation, but reconciliation is also necessary: reconciliation
with God and reconciliation with
others. That means, for example, that if
we’re holding a grudge or harboring unforgiveness toward another person in our
life, we should not expect to
experience great joy at Christmas (or at any other time of the year for that
matter!).
As I said earlier, our Advent
preparation (or lack thereof) directly influences the quality of our Christmas
celebration. And that preparation must
include reconciliation if we want our celebration to be all that it can be.
This is why John the Baptist is
always the main character in the gospel reading for the second Sunday of
Advent! John came for “preparation”—he
came to get people ready to meet Jesus, their Messiah. And his message of preparation was simple and
clear: Repent! Repent! Be reconciled to God and to one another!
On that note, did I mention that
Fr. Giudice and I will both be hearing confessions for the next two Saturdays
from 3:30-4:30p.m.?
John the Baptist would want me to
remind you of that, for reasons that should be obvious!
Which brings us to the final
element of proper Advent preparation: Donation. As most of us know, our materialistic and
hedonistic world teaches us—and especially our young people—that Christmas is
all about 3 people: Me, Myself, and I.
Christmas, in other words, is all
about getting more stuff and satisfying our own personal wants and
desires.
That, of course, is the exact
opposite of the true message of Christmas, which is “giving”: “For God so loved
the world that he gave his only
Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have
eternal life.”
We are supposed to give our
gifts—our donations—of time and talent and treasure to our brothers and sisters
here on earth during this holy season (and throughout the year!), in imitation
of God: our loving and awesome God who gave us his greatest gift in and through
his divine Son, Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary on Christmas Day.
It’s always inspiring and
uplifting to me to see people responding to others in their need. So many of you have done that here, again,
this year, with our Giving Tree project.
May God bless you for your
generosity, and may you personally experience the truth of those famous words
of Jesus: “There is more joy in giving than in receiving.”
So there you have it—my Advent
Equation: Preparation equals Contemplation plus Reconciliation plus Donation.
Preparation (for celebrating the
feast of our Lord’s birth with true Christmas joy) comes through contemplating the meaning of his birth, reconciling with God and others, and giving of ourselves and of our blessings and
resources to help our brothers and sisters in need.
My prayer today is that we will
all LIVE this equation fully during
this season of Advent, and find true and lasting joy this coming Christmas.