Anticipation, anticipation is making me late, is keeping me waiting. Famous lyrics from Carly Simon. She reminds us in this song: we can never know about the days to come but we think about them anyway. And finally she concludes that we should: just stay right here cause these are the good old days!
Let's think about it today! Once we get past Thanksgiving all we want to do is anticipate Christmas. Now Christmas is a good thing to anticipate, but can we stay right here, and celebrate this first day of Advent. I mean in just the past few days we have seen the mind boggling lines, people waiting and waiting just to get into a fight to grab the big deal for Christmas 2015. People, we are waiting for the wrong things.
As people of faith, are we waiting for Jesus, not just as the babe of Bethlehem but when He comes again?
This is the very first day of Advent 2015 and the appropriate day in the Church to say Happy New Year! It is also the first day of the new liturgical year. Advent for many of us seems to be a preparation for Christmas, the coming of the Christ child in the manger in Bethlehem. Indeed it is but it is also so much more. In our 1st reading from the prophet Jeremiah we hear language anticipating a promise kept and a new shoot coming from the branch of David. Surely this language from a prophet is telling us of the coming of Jesus at his birth. Is it? Fast forward to the Gospel reading, taken today from Luke. By the way, Luke will be our dominant Gospel in this liturgical year as we enter Cycle C. Luke's Gospel does not sound like the beginning or the coming of a child as foretold in the Old Testament. No, this comes from the 21st chapter of Luke and it sounds very similar to some of the recent end-time readings from the past few weeks. I mean we have language anticipating the coming of the Son of Man on a cloud and with power. We hear anticipation of many things to take place, none too pleasant, like shaking heavens and roaring waves and men fainting with fear. This does not sound like O Little Town of Bethlehem and the newborn King. Why? Because it is not! This is a foretelling and anticipation of Jesus coming again! Yes, Advent is both a time of great preparation for Christmas but it is also anticipation of Christ coming again. It is anticipation for us not just to be prepared to welcome Him as a beautiful manger figure we place in our cribs but to welcome Him in our lives, in our hearts, to focus on Him with our whole being; to trust in Him completely to save us, to bring us all the way home to Heaven!
My goodness, where today are the long lines? If we wait in lines on black Friday, if we wait in lines to see a sporting event or a concert, if we wait in lines to see a Mardi Gras parade, where today are the lines? For that matter, every Sunday and dare I say every day, where are the lines? Here, in this and every other Catholic Church, appearing in the tabernacle and on the altar during Mass, or Benediction and Adoration, where are the lines because Jesus is here. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, here today for you is Jesus Christ, fully present, body. blood, soul and divinity. Here is Jesus Christ, yes the same babe born in Bethlehem, the same man who hung upon a Cross for you and me, the only Son of God and God in the 2nd person of the Trinity, who rose from the dead, ascended to Heaven and yes, anticipate it, will come again! And again I ask, where are the lines?
For our part, what are we called to do in this first week of Advent 2015. First, we are called to anticipate with great joy that Christ will come again. Second, we are called to anticipate He is here, every time we walk into this Church. To that end, do we all realize that this Friday we will worship and glorify Him in a special way, it's called Adoration and Benediction. Jesus will be here exposed on the altar from the conclusion of morning Mass until 6 PM Friday evening. At that time, we will experience what is called Benediction, a blessing from the Eucharistic Jesus for all present. Our call this week is to make ourselves and our families available to attend Adoration and Benediction. We are called to make this special effort because this is the only First Friday of the year that occurs in Advent. While our new liturgical year focuses us on anticipation, we can anticipate the grace of Jesus in the Eucharist, exposed for us this First Friday. During Advent can we also prepare prayerfully for what Jesus coming again means to us personally? In prayer, can we ask Jesus to reveal to us what do we need to do to be fully prepared? Finally, in Advent, make every effort to get to confession. What better way to be prepared, what better way to anticipate fully Jesus in our lives than with a soul made clean by the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
Anticipation; it's keeping me waiting but we wait no longer for we will prepared for what's to come! Start today, for these too are the good old days!
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