Our Gospel readings this Sunday (Matthew 24:37-44) urge us to begin our Advent with a particular attitude. On this First Sunday of Advent, our readings lead us to contemplate an attitude of humble vigilance towards our Lord. We must ‘stay awake,’ ‘be prepared,’ (Matthew 24:42, 44) and ‘make no provision for the desires of the flesh’ (Romans 13:14). St Paul tells us to “throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:14).
Is Advent then a penitential season? Following the reforms of the liturgy at Second Vatican Council, the General Norms (39) of the Roman Missal remind us that Advent is a period of "devout and expectant delight." Strictly speaking, it is not a penitential season but rather a season of joyful anticipation. In this season, the church recounts the whole salvation history of Christ, beginning in the Old Testament, until Christ’s incarnation leads us all to Easter.
Advent comes for the Latin adventus. Christ’s Advent or ‘coming’ has a dual meaning; referring to the first coming of Christ in the incarnation, and later to the second coming of Christ at the end of the age.
If we focused purely on Christ’s second coming in judgment, we might view this season in a negative light and miss the joy implied in this message.
Advent is a season of joyful anticipation preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ, first in his Nativity, and then his second coming at the end of time.
Advent has a different character than Lent. Perhaps an apt metaphor for Lent would be training for an athletic competition. We place ourselves under a discipline to improve our performance. We might say, no pain no gain.
Unlike this, the metaphor for Advent is maternity. Yes, pregnancy involves watchful discipline and a degree of difficulty but the goal of new life makes this a time of joyful anticipation. During this season the church invites us to journey toward Christ's Nativity and to practice watchful anticipation, but always with a sense of joy.
Instead of being primarily a season of penance like Lent, it is a season of illumination and deeper conversion. The church invites us to join the family of Christ and celebrate his saving history leading up to the Nativity. The means of conversion is prayerful watching, and learning the family history of Christ in Sacred Scripture.
We need to go deeper in our understanding of the spirituality of this season. We are not waiting in lugubrious penance for the return of our Lord in judgment. We are not fearfully thinking “be good or else.” We are instead preparing our hearts for conversion, and for a definitive encounter with God who became a man. This conversion leads to the joy of the Spirit.
It is only thorough our understanding of the Incarnation that our hearts are prepared for his second coming. If we are not careful, it is easy to be distracted by the proverbial “holly jolly Christmas” celebrations which seem to start earlier every year.
The celebration of Advent invites us to enter deeply and prayerfully into the saving history of Christ offered in the readings. It is by first meditating on the Incarnation and Nativity that we look forward to and prepare our hearts and minds for Christ’s Second Coming in glory. The readings for Advent weave together both aspects of Christs two fold coming. By doing so we experience devout and expectant delight.
The discipline of preparing our hearts is our true penance. This involves prayer, reading Scripture and being truly present in the midst of the liturgy. Jesus in our Gospel readings calls us to have vigilance.
This theme of vigilance in prayer leads us to consider some difficulties people may face in their prayer life.
The first is distractions in our prayer life. A certain amount of distraction in our prayer is inevitable. Some of the greatest saints who taught on prayer, such as St Teresa of Avila, faced almost constant distraction in her prayer. St Teresa always took the Scripture or some spiritual book with her in her prayer to help her concentrate. One time honored method of prayer involves reading from Scripture , then talking to God about what you have read, then spending a few moments in silence listening. In order to pray longer, the cycle is repeated over again.
At times we can experience spiritual dryness in out prayer, where we fell like our “heart is separated from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories, and feelings, even spiritual ones” (CCC 2731). The Lord may allow this from time to time to test our resolve, or it may be due to some areas of our life that we have not fully submitted to God. We may require a deeper conversion.
The Catechism note, “the most common yet most hidden temptation is our lack of faith” (CCC 2732). It is not that we directly doubt the truths of the faith, but we allow our preferences and cares to vie for our attention. We chose to pursue what we think are other more pressing matters. We tell ourselves, “I’m too busy, don’t have time to pray.” Or we chose to reward ourselves with some other activity which we think will bring us more joy or distraction.
Finally, spiritual writers have identified a kind of spiritual depression that can occur when someone is very lax in the practice of their faith. They spiral down into a state where they lack vigilance, and become carelessness of heart (CCC 2733). Both Jesus words in our Gospel and the reading from St Paul warn us against this problem.
Jesus compares his second coming to that of the time of Noah. At the time of Noah, people were living life and we not prepared. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away (Matthew 24:39).
Many people live life assuming they have many years to come to make amends, but none of us knows the hour of our death. It may well be sooner than we think, and it may be unexpected. We need to live each day as though it were our last, and to be ready at any time to meet our Lord.
Jesus tells us to ‘stay awake’ and ‘to be prepared!’ Advent is a season of conversion, which calls each one of us to a deeper journey with our Lord. Come Lord Jesus!
It is only thorough our understanding of the Incarnation that our hearts are prepared for his second coming. If we are not careful, it is easy to be distracted by the proverbial “holly jolly Christmas” celebrations which seem to start earlier every year.
The celebration of Advent invites us to enter deeply and prayerfully into the saving history of Christ offered in the readings. It is by first meditating on the Incarnation and Nativity that we look forward to and prepare our hearts and minds for Christ’s Second Coming in glory. The readings for Advent weave together both aspects of Christs two fold coming. By doing so we experience devout and expectant delight.
The discipline of preparing our hearts is our true penance. This involves prayer, reading Scripture and being truly present in the midst of the liturgy. Jesus in our Gospel readings calls us to have vigilance.
This theme of vigilance in prayer leads us to consider some difficulties people may face in their prayer life.
Distractions
The first is distractions in our prayer life. A certain amount of distraction in our prayer is inevitable. Some of the greatest saints who taught on prayer, such as St Teresa of Avila, faced almost constant distraction in her prayer. St Teresa always took the Scripture or some spiritual book with her in her prayer to help her concentrate. One time honored method of prayer involves reading from Scripture , then talking to God about what you have read, then spending a few moments in silence listening. In order to pray longer, the cycle is repeated over again.
Dryness
At times we can experience spiritual dryness in out prayer, where we fell like our “heart is separated from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories, and feelings, even spiritual ones” (CCC 2731). The Lord may allow this from time to time to test our resolve, or it may be due to some areas of our life that we have not fully submitted to God. We may require a deeper conversion.
Lack of Faith
The Catechism note, “the most common yet most hidden temptation is our lack of faith” (CCC 2732). It is not that we directly doubt the truths of the faith, but we allow our preferences and cares to vie for our attention. We chose to pursue what we think are other more pressing matters. We tell ourselves, “I’m too busy, don’t have time to pray.” Or we chose to reward ourselves with some other activity which we think will bring us more joy or distraction.
Acedia or Lukewarmness
Finally, spiritual writers have identified a kind of spiritual depression that can occur when someone is very lax in the practice of their faith. They spiral down into a state where they lack vigilance, and become carelessness of heart (CCC 2733). Both Jesus words in our Gospel and the reading from St Paul warn us against this problem.
Jesus compares his second coming to that of the time of Noah. At the time of Noah, people were living life and we not prepared. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away (Matthew 24:39).
Many people live life assuming they have many years to come to make amends, but none of us knows the hour of our death. It may well be sooner than we think, and it may be unexpected. We need to live each day as though it were our last, and to be ready at any time to meet our Lord.
Jesus tells us to ‘stay awake’ and ‘to be prepared!’ Advent is a season of conversion, which calls each one of us to a deeper journey with our Lord. Come Lord Jesus!
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