Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Sunday, November 28, 2010

The First Sunday of Advent--Cycle A



Every year at the beginning of Advent, I experience such a thrill!  It is the beginning of a whole new liturgical year--and the beginning of the greatest rescue adventure ever.  Who ever could have imagined this? 

We are so accustomed to the same old, same old.  Our reality is so flat, we are so blase´.  The more wonders unfold before our eyes, the more we become jaded, consumed by the old ennui. 

This is our chance to see with new eyes; to set aside a season to wait, to look, to listen.  Just when the world is putting on it's flashiest, most materialistic show, we are really being called to stop and to step aside for a bit.  Look up!  Listen up!

Stay awake!

Jesus alerts us to the fact that we are being lulled to sleep by the world.  We will not be ready when the Great King comes.  And then, what a cause for regret!  Imagine, if the innkeeper had only known, if he had been aware of Whom he was turning away!  Imagine, if we only knew, each time we turn Him away, every day.  The Great King is coming, in the most unexpected ways, and at every moment--the most unexpected time.  But we are so drowsy, so ho-hum, that we miss it, we miss Him.  "If they had known".

We know (or we used to know, at any rate) that He came on that long-ago night--but we have managed to turn the awe of that occasion 
into "the first lucky 13 people in the door will get a $95 IPad."  How sad; how boring.

But turn off the TV, the IPod, the Computer, and come away into a quiet place a little while.  Listen.

Stay awake!

He is coming at the moment you least expect.  He is coming right now.

There are so many excellent Advent resources in print and on the web.  I did just find one more that I am enjoying very much.  Fr. Hoisington's lovely blog Reflections On the Sacred Liturgy
has much to recommend it; at present I am especially enjoying his use of the Catena Aurea to illumine the riches of Advent's scriptures.