Saturday of the First Week of Advent
Ite Missa Est’s (Immaculate Conception's Adult Faith Formation Ministry) “Advent Journey” this year is centered on Joy, and today’s particular challenge directs us to “The Joy of Healing.” I don’t think it is natural for us to look at where we need healing and experience joy, but I think that is part of the message in the readings today. Our readings call us to take heart, for God is the healer, the mender, and the one who picks up the pieces. Sometimes we act like we need to do all of that before we approach God, but that never works. This is why our “Advent Journey” today calls us to reflect on a time of healing.
Advent is a beautiful season where we are trying to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord. But we sometimes mistakenly fall into a “fix yourself” mentality. Sometimes we can try and prepare in a kind of “pull yourself together” way. Or, on the flipside we can despair. Some of us come from broken families and wounded homes. Some of us might be facing the celebration of Christmas without a loved one for the first time. We despair because we don’t know how we can do this on our own. Which is good because we aren’t supposed to do it on our own. Neither God nor the Church expects you to overcome those difficult situations by your own power with or without the four weeks of Advent.
Rather, today’s readings and the “Advent Journey” remind us that this is a season of surrender. The chorus of today’s Psalm is, “Blessed are all who wait on the Lord.” To allow our hearts to have peace and wait on the Lord is part of Advent. We are called, not to fix ourselves this season, but to remember that “At the sight of the crowds, [Jesus’] heart was moved with pity for them.” In His pity, He is our healer, rebuilder, and unifier. The Psalm again tells us, “The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; the dispersed of Israel he gathers. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” These are His promises and we are asked to reflect on the times that He has fulfilled them, so that we may open our heart to His healing again. In His wisdom and timing, some things might remain unhealed this Christmas season, and we don’t know why, but that does not mean that the Lord wishes to withhold joy from us.
I wish to end this by responding to the “Advent Journey’s” call to share a time of healing. Before my wife and I married we had a night that we sat and shared some difficult truths about ourselves. By and large we shared about decisions that were made in the past. They were things that the other person had a right to know before we got married. It was difficult to share and difficult to hear, but it was healthy. It wasn’t an interrogation, none of it was accusatory. It helped us grow as we knew that even amid disappointment and hurt we could still love each other. From that I was reminded of my own wounds and had learned some of my fiancé’s. After going our separate ways that night I went into my room, fell to my knees, and opened my Bible, finding myself at these words, “All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. [And] be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ” (Eph 4:31-32). Praying with that passage, for I don’t know how long, was a reminder of my own forgiveness and my need to forgive. It was one of the deepest moments of healing I have experienced in my life.
Lord, help us to joyfully recall the healing You have worked in our lives and surrender ourselves to the hope that You will continue to fulfill your promises of healing and reconciliation.
- Spencer Hargadon