We typically think of Advent as a time of waiting and preparation. Waiting for the celebration of Christ coming to earth as one of us and preparation to receive him into our hearts and lives.
Advent is also a time of Hope. The Psalm response for today is “Lord make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.” “Let us see your face and we shall be saved.” is a plea for God’s help in times of distress and chaos. In spite of all the gloom and doom in the world today, there is still hope.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! Be watchful for what? Be alert for what? Is this to be a time of waiting, a time of preparation?
Jesus continues with a parable to give us some insight to what he means. The head of a household goes off on a trip. Each person in the household is expected to perform their duties while the head of the household is gone. The gatekeeper is told to watch for the return of the lord of the house. That is the only way the gatekeeper can alert the rest of the household to be ready to welcome the return of the master.
John Kavanaugh, a Jesuit professor of Philosophy at St Louis University, wrote: “The words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark may be read not only as a warning about the end times, but as a challenge for us to live in the present, to engage life now, to be attentive to the moment at hand. It is the call of Advent itself. Be awake. Do not put off the opening of your life to God.”
The words in the Gospel of Mark could be taken as a time of waiting for the Second Coming of Christ. But Fr Kavanaugh is saying that these words should be a call to action right now; “Open our hearts to God and follow him.”
Opening our hearts is difficult for us to do. Seeking God’s will in the chaos of life gets lost in the busyness of living; trying to get a promotion at work, shuttling the children to gymnastics, soccer, music lessons and Religious Ed. It never seems to end.
In all of this “Living” we often begin to feel despair and that nothing matters. We begin to feel worthless as though we are just going through the motions without any real purpose in life.
God feels that we are worth a lot to him. But do we feel that we have worth? Have the criticisms from others chipped away at us that we feel as though we are only going through the motions, that no one really cares let alone appreciates what we do?
With all the frenzy of Christmas and the demands of preparing and organizing dinners, parties and get togethers, it’s easy to feel that we don’t matter, that we just have tasks to do and that no one cares. We begin to feel worthless to the world around us.
I stopped in Cleveland and had dinner with Fr Dave on my way home from Seattle last month. Fr Dave talked about his prison ministry and explained how he tries to help everyone know that they have worth. In today’s world with all the darkness and chaos it’s hard for a person to feel that they have worth, that they are valuable to someone.
This can easily happen to us. Our society demands that we conform to the concepts that are put before us or we are an outcast. If we hold to our Catholic faith, it can cost us a promotion at work, award of a scholarship or inclusion in the groups at school and even within our church.
Each of us are made in God’s image. God loves us as the unique individual that we are with all of our quirks, idiosyncrasies, faults and even our sins. God loves us so much that even in our sinfulness and tuning away from his love for us, he sent his Son to bring his love, mercy, and forgiveness to each of us by dying on the cross to provide for our salvation.
The first trope of the Kyrie today “you came to reconcile us to one another and to the Father” is the mission of the church. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. It’s impossible to love others if we don’t love and respect ourselves.
God’s mercy and forgiveness is there for everyone, even me. We don’t do anything to obtain it and we can’t earn it, it’s a gift from God. We know that we are unworthy of God’s love in our sinfulness yet if we open our lives and hearts God will fill us with his love and his mercy and he will forgive us our sins.
We live in chaotic times, and we are so busy that it seems impossible to slow down. Slowing down is extremely difficult to do any time of the year and especially as we approach Christmas. The result is that we fail to open our hearts to receive God’s love to enable us to share his love with everyone we meet.
If we heed the words of Fr Kavanaugh, we begin to open our lives and hearts to God so his love, mercy and forgiveness can begin to heal us and give us a feeling of worth. This is the Hope of Advent!
Do I feel as though I am just taking care of everyone else, or do I feel that I have worth as a child of God? Am I so busy with all the demands of living that I don’t even have time to pray?
Jesus tells us to watch and be alert for his return. We typically think of this as his second coming at some point in the future and neglect to open our hearts now. Lord Jesus, help us to open our hearts now so we can help everyone to have a sense of worth in a world that doesn’t to care for the outcast and marginalized of society.
