Today, the Church begins a new liturgical calendar. And so, I wish you a Happy New Year! Like we do at the beginning of all that we do, the readings of today invite us to meditate on the importance of preparing and being ready at all times. Every season of the Church celebrates a particular moment in the life of Christ and how that should reflect in our own lives as Christians. And so in Advent, we
join Mary and Joseph, the prophets and patriarchs, our fore fathers and mothers, in preparing to welcome the Christ Child. If God were to be born in your household, what preparations would you make? I would like to show that the blessing of the advent season is that we prepare to welcome Jesus not only at Christmas, but also at every Eucharist, and at His second coming. In a word, advent is a season of preparation for the three comings of Christ in history, in
mystery and in glory. The fundamental question remains: Why and how should we prepare to welcome Jesus?
WHY WE SHOULD PREPARE FOR CHRIST’S COMING
To prepare for Christ’s coming at Christmas is an expression of our gratitude for God’s gift to us. We prepare for all that is important to us. Christmas is a season when we long to receive our Savior even like Simeon longed to see Him before he died. Preparing for Christmas is not just remembering a historical event, it is re-living the mysteries of Christ’s birth and asking for the various graces of these mysteries to be applied to us here and now.
To prepare for Christ’s coming at Mass is to recognize the greatness of the gift Jesus left us of Himself in the Eucharist. Preparing for communion shows that we are aware that what we receive is no ordinary bread, but Jesus Himself. To prepare for Mass is to recognize that Jesus gives Himself to us by no cheap means but by the sacrifice of His life for us on the cross.
To prepare for the second coming of Christ is to prepare ourselves for the last day. This is the heart of today’s readings. “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day our Lord will come.” To prepare for Christ’s second coming is to be ready at all times. By so doing, we shall not be taken unawares. The question remains, “How does one stay awake at all times?” One remains vigilant at all times by never taking a moment for granted. For one thing, it is not easy to
stay awake when we are tired or when it is dark. At the dark moments of our lives, we need the light. Such is the invitation of St. Paul when he tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. On the day of baptism, we put on Christ, and every time we go into prayer, we put on the light of Christ, who enables us to overcome all darkness.
HOW WE SHOULD PREPARE FOR CHRIST’S COMING
We live in an age that is trying to secularize everything. Some years back it would have been unthinkable to celebrate Christmas without Christ. Many nowadays simply want to call the Christmas season, “the holiday season.” Denying the reason for the season is like denying that the big bang had a cause. The first reading gives us a clue on how to prepare for Christmas: “In the days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest
mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it.” Preparing for Christmas during advent should be a time when we intentionally orient ourselves toward God. Why do we turn to God? We turn to Him so that He might teach us the ways that lead to life, that is the ways of truth, justice, and peace. Isaiah puts it thus: “For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on
many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” If Isaiah lived in our days, what would he say about our guns, our phones, our electronics? I beg he would exhort us to use guns for hunting and not for inflicting untold pain on others; He would exhort us to use our phones as tools for evangelization and not as toys for pleasure. In a word, the Messiah comes to teach us how to use every instrument of violence into an instrument of peace; every means of sin as a source of grace.
To prepare for Christ’s coming in mystery entails preparing intentionally for every Mass where Jesus comes to us sacramentally in Holy Communion. We can prepare for Mass remotely by making frequent use of the sacrament of confession; spiritually by meditating on the readings before Mass; immediately, by arriving some minutes before Mass and recollecting ourselves for the Sacrifice.
To prepare for Christ’s coming in glory is to live each day as if it were our first day, our only day and our last day. In the words of St. Paul, it is to live as children of the light and to cast off the works of darkness: “Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” As we receive our savior Jesus Christ in the Eucharist today, may we resolve to be ready at all times so that He may never find us wanting but ready when He comes.