Beginning the Advent Journey"
Today's Mass Readings
Today’s readings speak of anticipation – the anticipation so characteristic of this season of Advent. We are waiting, waiting, waiting… and for what? Isaiah speaks of both the calamity that will befall many, but also, in today’s passage, of the salvation that awaits those who remain faithful. For the holy of Zion, there will be over them “A smoking cloud by day and a light of flaming fire by night. For over all, the LORD’s glory will be shelter and protection: shade from the parching heat of day, refuge and cover from storm and rain.” This echoes the Exodus imagery of the time when the Hebrew people were fleeing from their slavery in Egypt. The smoking cloud, the flaming pillar was the sign of God’s presence with the people. It was the shelter and protection given to the people. For what are we waiting, then? Isaiah tells us we are waiting for this special presence of God among us. Meanwhile, today’s gospel passage ends with Jesus saying that many will come from east and west to recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet of the Kingdom of Heaven. This gives us further imagery of that for which we wait. We anticipate the banquet of the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, we do not only anticipate God present among us, but also we anticipate ourselves present in God’s kingdom.
These readings hence echo the classical Christian saying, “God became man, that man might become God.” God will be present among us… and here we might naturally think of Christmas, when our Lord and Savior comes to us in the humble guise of a helpless infant. We will be present among God, in God’s kingdom… and here we ought to think of our future of eternal life with God.
The centurion tells Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant shall be healed.” We echo this every time we attend the Eucharist, when we say, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” In some sense, we are not worthy of God’s presence among us. Yet we graciously receive this presence – first in the Incarnation when God became man in Jesus the babe, and now in the Eucharist where Jesus’ flesh becomes the life for the world. We are healed in our sin by God as we receive him in the Eucharist. This is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that lies ahead for us. God’s presence among us, in Jesus and in the Eucharist, makes it possible for us to share in the divine life, in the Eucharist here on earth, and finally in the banquet of the Kingdom of Heaven. May we anticipate this, and may we wait well! Oh, Lord, let our lives be a sign of that which we anticipate!
- Maria Morrow