Second Sunday of Advent
I had just finished my grocery shopping at Kroger’s and as I was driving away from the parking lot I realized that my care rear door had just flung open. Obviously, I had not shut it tight. Meanwhile another car had just pulled up next to me to let me know that I was driving with my door open. I thanked this person for caring and then, lo and behold, as if this was a scene from Hollywood, this amazingly trendy, gorgeous, young woman steps out and hands me this little booklet. And she tells me (Hollywood style) how in this season when everybody is rushing, how patience can help. I told her I was the pastor at Immaculate and I think her face dropped a little bit. But then we said goodbye and unlike Hollywood style, parted ways. I came back home and glanced over the little booklet and it was obvious that Marissa was a Mormon. I knew then that her face had dropped, perhaps, because she knew I was Catholic. Nevertheless, the message she gave me was well taken. She was asking me to slow down and be centered just when life becomes hectic. Without talking about Christ she was proposing Christ to me as the answer.
We are entering the second week of Advent. Last week I had suggested that three ways to make this advent meaningful: twenty minutes of praying with scripture for the day, living a balanced and just life, and focusing on the family. To build upon these themes, I wish today to focus entirely on the second reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. There are three things that Paul focuses on as he writes to them: joy, confidence, and love.
Let me make one point before we move on the themes. One of the disadvantages of reading a small extract from any book is that we do not understand the context within which it is written. There is no way to know, for example, that Paul is writing this letter from prison. Once we become aware of this we wonder how Paul can talk about joy, confidence and love. We would think he was in despair, hopelessness and doubt. Heck No! Just like my parking-lot evangelizer was suggesting patience in the midst of this very hectic season, Paul, in the midst of his imprisonment had found reason for joy, confidence and love.
1. Joy. From prison how Paul can say “pray always with joy?” Not only while in prison but even before his imprisonment Paul had been through many crises. In the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks about receiving the infamous fourty lashes five times, ship wrecks, nights at sea, starvation, cold, nakedness, beatings and numerous other near-death situations. But Paul pressed on with great determination to preach the gospel. In other words, there was something Paul was utterly convinced about. His conviction was regarding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. For Paul, it was never about the obstacles that lay in his way. It was never about the stress or daily anxiety. For Paul, it was about Christ and the good news that was entrusted to him. As long as Paul could do that, even if it was from prison, Paul was content. In other words, it was the centrality of Christ in his life that made every other crisis look pale in comparison. The centrality of Christ in Paul’s life is the secret of his joy.
As we enter the second week of advent, perhaps, we are being invited to keep Christ at the very center. Amidst very busy and anxious days before Christmas, please let us not lose sight of Christ. Through, prayer, just living and with our families, let us keep Christ at the center.
2. Confidence. From talking about joy, Paul moves to confidence. Here is what he says, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” What is the basis for Paul’s confidence? If anything, looking at his imprisonment, Paul’s readers should be lacking in confidence. Paul’s imprisonment could be an example that the one who began the good work in him did not bring it to completion. In fact, his faith has led him to prison. What then should the Philippians feel confident about? Paul is not asking the Philippians to look at him. He is asking them to look at Christ who is glorified in him. If Paul in prison can write with joy then there must be a reason. The reason is Christ who by his incarnation, death and resurrection has transformed the meaning and purpose of life. Paul himself is confident that whether in prison or free, in life or death, in luxury or suffering Christ is his all in this life and the next. As he says a few verses later, “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.” (Phi 1:21) Now he asks the Philippians to be confident about the same.
As we prepare for the coming of Christ this advent, we are being invited to be confident that “The One who began this good work in us will bring it to completion it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Whatever life looks like right now, God will bring it to completion in Christ.
3. Love. Paul’s joy and confidence leads him to make a prayer. And this is his prayer: “that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ….” How is it possible that somebody innocent of any crime can sit in prison and still talk about love? How is it possible that someone jailed for their convictions can ask his reader to “discern what is of value?” Because, as Paul would say in the very next Chapter, “Rather, he [Christ] emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness;and found human in appearance,he humbled himself,becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” Christ came to us because of love, he humbles himself because of love, he was obedient unto death because of love, and he died on a cross because of love. Paul was convinced of this. So he asks his reading to have the same mind as that of Christ.
This advent the best way to prepare for Christ is have the same mind as that of Christ. Paul is inviting to reach the same time of conviction that he himself has.
- Fr. Satish Joseph