First Sunday of Advent
Just today, I buried two young people who were killed in a car accident. Corey Cooper was only 18 years old and Christina Jackson was 20. When they left home the night of November eighteenth, no one thought that this would the last time they saw their family; when they got into the car that night, no one thought this would be their last car ride; when they sent their text sitting at the red light early morning of November nineteenth, they did not think that would be their last text ever sent. Like a flash of lightning, their brief lives were over. “Watch therefore,” Jesus says in today’s gospel reading, “you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.”
For the families of the youngsters, if there ever is healing from this tragedy, it will take a long time. Part of my funeral homily, though, was also addressed to the young people present. I strongly urged them to examine their life- style, set new priorities and values on which they hope to build their lives.
The readings on this first Sunday of advent are addressed to all of us. Not just youngsters, but all of us are being called to renewal and todays reading help us to the process for renewal. In the first reading from Isaiah, the experience of the exile has made the people of Israel step back, examine their life and begin a process of renewal. The reading is an honest assessment of Israel’s life as a nation and as individuals. The Temple was in ruins, a people whose entire life revolved around worship were left with no priest and no ritual sacrifices, and politically, there was no sign of liberation. They are now compelled to get a fresh perspective on life. They must look back, look at the present realities, and become aware of what got them into exile. So they pray to God and say, “Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean people, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.”
As they stepped back and examined their life, not only did they become aware that it was their sin that led them into exile, but they also became aware of their need for God. In their moment of abandonment, they long for God. “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down…,” they prayed.
Their renewal, however, they knew could only come from one thing – the eternal and unconditional love of their God. They must, one more time, entrust their life into the hand of their God, like clay in the hands of a potter. So they prayed, “Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter; we are all the work of your hands.” This is the precise moment of renewal and grace. Very soon restoration and healing would come their way.
How can we make sure this advent will be meaningful for us? Here are my three practical implications for today.
1.Step back. Like the people of Israel who spent fourty years in exile, we have this season of advent. Everybody is asking us to step forward and get on the shopping spree that would bring economic prosperity to our land. God, on the other hand, is asking us to step back. No, we are not being asked to abandon shopping, to decorate or to have fun and frolic. However, we are certainly being invited to be prepared for Christ in a real and tangible way. How can we do this? Perhaps, we can step back for twenty minutes each day in prayer. I seriously recommend reflecting and praying the daily mass readings because they prepare us for the coming of Christ in ways that others cannot do. To be found unprepared for Christ this Christmas will be the greatest tragedy of this season.
2.Examine. As we step back in prayer, like the people of Israel it is also time to examine our life. What is the direction that our life is taking at the moment? There are three directions that our life could be going in – may be we are going backwards, or is stagnant or we are moving forward toward God and eternity? Or perhaps, all these three things are happening simultaneously. There may be areas where we are sliding, others where we are stagnant and others where we are moving forward? Let us not be afraid to bring before God the areas where we need God’s healing. As the people of Israel prayed, could we be like clay in the hands of a potter? As Jesus says in today’s gospel reading, “…whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning,” we must find ourselves ready for the Lord of the house.
3.Renew. It is when we have stepped back and made time for God; it is when we have come before God and presented our life to God in honesty and sincerity that we can experience renewal. Renewal does not merely come from what God does to us because of our prayer and introspection. God is the renewal. Renewal happens because God is now present to us in a real and tangible. Isn’t that the Christmas story – God becoming flesh and coming to us? This Christmas, it is my hope that each one of us might find restoration, healing, love, peace and life because our life has been made ready for the Lord of the house.
As we prepare to bring the bread and wine to altar, like the people of Israel let us lay our own lives on this altar. And just as this bread and wine is transformed into the body and blood of Christ, may we too be transformed. May we pray “Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter; we are all the work of your hands.” Amen.