The First Sunday of Advent [A]
Fr. Matthew Siegman
For the Church, the First Sunday of Advent is the beginning of a new liturgical year. The yearly cycle of celebrations and fasts begins again. I am sometimes tempted to find this yearly repetition dull or frustrating. We revisit the same events of Christ’s life. We revisit many of the same readings, which for some things are the same every year. If I allowed this temptation to take root, though, I would be missing something very important: God makes all things new! “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective,” we read in the Letter to the Hebrews. So, instead of allowing complacency or familiarity to sneak in and prevent us from finding the amazing things that God has hidden in scripture for us this year, let us make the words of Isaiah our own: “Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.”
The season of Advent prepares us to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day, the moment where God enters creation and visits his people. This Sunday’s readings, however, are all focused in the opposite direction. Isaiah says, “let us climb the Lord’s mountain.” The psalmist says, “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” The Gospel reminds us that, “two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.” St. Paul tells us that “it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” The Church, through her selection of scriptures at this Mass, is unmistakably calling us to turn to God and go to him. In a word, the Church is calling us to repent.
This seems a little weird, though, doesn’t it? Usually when I think of repentance, I think of St. John the Baptist and of Lent. And if you were thinking the same thing, I have good news: so is the Church. If you read ahead to next Sunday’s readings, you’ll find our friend, St. John the Baptist, preaching to the people that they must “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
Why, then, does Advent begin with this strange focus on repentance, turning away from sin, and judgment?
Before our Lord ate the Last Supper, suffered the Passion, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, he spoke to his disciples of coming in glory. When he does this, he will be accompanied by angels and sit on the throne of judgment. Those who were merciful, as his Father called them to be, will be welcomed to eternity. Those who were not will inherit what is due to them: eternal punishment. (Matthew 25:31-46) It is easy to miss the most important part of all this though: Jesus is coming back.
During Advent we remember the First Coming of Christ, and this strengthens us as we prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. These preparations will require much of us. They will require us to live differently than the world. St. Paul tells us to “put on the armor of light” and “conduct ourselves properly.” Then, in a list that is just as (maybe even more) relevant today as it was 2000 years ago, he tells us that must must not give ourselves to orgies, drunkenness, promiscuity, lust, rivalry, and jealousy. These are the “desires of the flesh,” and we must cast them out of ourselves. We must remain vigilant always. Christ reminds us in the Gospel, “you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
As we prepare ourselves for Christ’s return, though, something curious begins to happen. As we clean those worldly desires out of our hearts and start to live our lives more fully in Christ, we find that there is someone already there waiting for us. He is the same person who was born in manger, and he has been waiting for us to make room so that he can fill our hearts with his grace and love.
This Advent, I encourage everyone to try and not get caught up in celebrating Christmas for four straight weeks, because then we miss out on something truly important. We miss out on the very time of preparation for both Christmas and the Return of the King that the Church has given us.