First Week of Advent
Reflections
from Immersed in Christ
November 27,2016
First Sunday of Advent
Appreciating and Accepting Jesus as “Son of David” — the fulfillment of all God’s promises
Inventory
Where do I seek
my fulfillment in life? What am I focused on? What do I think about, dream
about, most often? What do I think God can or will do for me? Is it what he
really promised? (This is not just our question; Jesus asks this of every
person on earth. See John 1:38).
Input
The Entrance Antiphon puts words in our
mouth that invite us to ask if they are really in our hearts: “To you, my God, I lift up my soul… No one
who waits for you is ever put to shame (or disappointed).” How often do I
really “lift up my soul” to God?
In the Opening Prayer we ask God to “increase
our strength of will” – that is, motivate us — so that “Christ may find an
eager welcome” in our hearts. But what do we ask God to motivate us to do? It
is to “lift up our hearts” in longing for Christ, in expectation that Jesus
will open to us the way to fulfillment in life, the way to happiness on this
earth as well as in heaven. (Before the Preface
we will be invited again: “Lift up your hearts!” and we will answer, “We lift
them up to the Lord”).
What does it
mean to “lift up our hearts”? The Alternate
Opening Prayer tells us. It means to tell God consciously that “our hearts
desire the warmth of your love.” Telling God this makes us aware of it.
We also need to
tell him, “Our minds are searching for the light of your Word.” We have to
realize that this is what our minds really are searching for.
Whether we are
conscious of it or not, our minds are constantly scanning all of reality,
monitoring all our experiences, looking for something to settle on: a truth to
rest in, a goal that promises satisfaction, a desire that fills the soul.
St. Augustine
said: “Our hearts are restless, O God, and they shall not rest until they rest
in Thee!” If we know this consciously, and explicitly affirm it in our minds,
it will “increase our longing for Christ our Savior.” We will have a clear
picture of fulfillment to focus on. (The answer the human heart spontaneously
gives when Jesus asks, “What are you looking for?” is “Where does God dwell?” See John
1:38).
There is hope:
Isaiah 2:1-5 announces that our desires, our longings
to be filled and satisfied by God, are not just hopeless illusions. God
promises to come “pitch his tent” among us, to take up residence on earth in a
place where we can find him.
The “Lord’s
house” shall be established on the mountain top, where everyone can see it. And
“all nations shall stream toward it.” Now, to those who ask, “Lord, where do
you dwell?” he answers, “Come and see” (see John 1:38-39).
Why
do we come to church? What are we looking for on Sunday mornings? Isaiah tells
us we come because our hearts within us are saying, “Come, let us climb the
Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways and we may walk in his paths.”
If we learn
God’s ways and walk in his paths, it is not just interior satisfaction and
personal peace that we will experience. We will also find hope that there can be peace in the world, “peace on earth.”
We will find
reason to hope that the divisions and violence in our world can be replaced by
unity and love. In the measure that all nations begin to “walk in the light of
the Lord,” people will begin to “beat their swords into ploughshares.” The
senseless outpouring of national resources into the “arms race,” the production
of weapons of mass destruction, will stop. Nor will we “train for war again.”
Instead of living in fear and preoccupation with “national security,” we will
“go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” (Responsorial
Psalm). There will be “peace within our walls, prosperity in our
buildings.” When we have chosen to be “brothers and sisters and friends” to all
people, the Lord will say, “Peace be within you.”
Wake-up!
Matthew 24:37-44 is a
wake-up call. It may be that, like ordinary people in our culture, we have been
caught up in “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,” earning a
living, taking care of our physical fitness, keeping the house clean, getting
the car repaired, shopping, paying bills, getting the kids off to school and
driving them to doctors’ appointments and sporting events, coping with a boss
or with customers, and just trying to find a little relaxation at the end of
the day.
But
in the Gospel Jesus calls us to lift up our heads as well as our hearts; not to
be buried and blinded by details. Jesus calls us to keep our faces above water,
to look around, to be aware of the larger picture, to think about where we are
going, what we are looking for in life, how it is all going to end.
God
is out there also. But God doesn’t just stay “out there.” He comes to us
constantly. He comes to us repeatedly, “at an hour you do not expect,” with
inspirations and invitations, with enlightenment and encouragement. If we
expect to recognize and respond to God when he comes to us at the hour of
death, we need to recognize him and respond to him when he comes to us every
day. “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day [or at which
moment of every day] your Lord will come.”
This
is what Advent is all about. It is a time to shake ourselves free from
encumbering preoccupations, to look around and to look up. It is a time to take
stock, to look within our hearts and see what we find there: what desires, what
longings, what faith and hope in their fulfillment. It is a time to look
intently at the promises of God. It is a time to respond to love with love. It
is a time to think about time.
If we act:
Romans 13:11-14 summons us to act in response to God’s message of
hope. “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep!” With a motivation born
of new hope we will find the “strength of will” to “throw off the works of
darkness and put on the armor of light.”
If we have
learned to “lift up our hearts to the Lord,” and to seek our true joy in “the
warmth of his love” and “the light of his Word,” our driving desire will be to
“put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is to seek fulfillment where it can be
found.
Our goal will be
union with Jesus, identification with him as his own body on earth, as sharers
in his divine life. We will hear the goal, the focus, and the promise of our
existence in the words of the Greeting
at Mass: “May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ (the favor of sharing in God’s own life), and the love of God, and fellowship (communion) in the Holy Spirit be with you all!”
What we will
focus on now in our work, our social life, our personal development; what we
will think about and dream about most often, will be to grow into a greater experience of divine life, into a deeper
experience of love, into an
all-embracing communion of mind and
will and heart with God and with all people in the “fellowship of the Holy
Spirit.”
We will be more
attuned to the voice of our own hearts crying, “Come,
let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways and we may walk in his paths.” This is the
path to fulfillment.
Insight: Do I really believe that by interacting with
Jesus, I can find more fulfillment in my home life? Social life? School or
professional life? What would this change?
Initiative: How can I — no, how will I — use the
time of Advent to make all my time on earth more fulfilling?
(This is the time for some concrete choices!)
November 28, 2016
MONDAY, first week in Advent
We Do Not Have To Live Lives Of Mediocre Joy — If We Interact With Jesus
The Responsorial Psalm is a key to the
readings: “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122).
We
rejoice because Isaiah 4:2-6 tells
us that through the gift of Jesus “the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful
and glorious…. and whoever… remains in Jerusalem will be called holy.” The
Church may be going through difficult days. The world may be torn by divisions
and conflict. But those who attach themselves to Jesus Christ will find joy in
life, even in the midst of suffering, and arrive at the fulfillment Jesus
promises: “life to the full” (John
10:10). Nothing can prevent this. Nothing can take it away from us so long as
we remain “in Christ,” interacting with him in his Church, the New Jerusalem,
who is being “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). This is a promise:
God’s promise of fulfillment through
Jesus Christ.
But
we have to “go… to the house of the
Lord.” In Matthew 8:5-11 the
centurion had to approach Jesus.
Jesus healed his servant only after the centurion interacted with him. We need to ask for Jesus’ help and also
interact with him in every area of our lives in order to bring that area of our
lives to fulfillment.
Isn’t
it true that for most of us there are areas of life in which we feel
unfulfilled— not because we aren’t doing what we should, and doing it fairly
successfully, but because something is lacking; something is leaving us
unsatisfied?
It
may be that our own faults or the faults of others keep us from being as happy
as we want. Perhaps something in us is “lying… paralyzed,” or even “in terrible
distress.” Or it may be just that, on a level deeper than ordinary human
interaction and higher than normal human expectations, our hearts may be
feeling a call, a longing for something more, for evidence of a divine
dimension, for assurance that there is eternal value in what we do.
This
is where we are asked to believe in
Jesus as the “Son of David” who brings all of God’s promises to fulfillment. We
do not have to live lives of mediocre joy. If we give Jesus an active part in
all we do, we can find joy and fulfillment in everything, regardless of what
others do. And we may even be able to bring others to a higher level of
response if we let Jesus as Savior act with
us, act in us, act through us. This is something to believe in and to strive for during Advent. “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the
Lord.”
Initiative: If you seek fulfillment,
seek it where it can be found. Interact
with Jesus. Before every action say, “Lord, do this with me, do this in me, do
this through me” (memory aid: WIT).
November 29, 2016
TUESDAY, first week in Advent
Through Jesus We Can Know God. This Is The Renewal Of The World.
The Responsorial gives us the assurance and
source of fulfillment: “Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of
peace forever” (Psalm 72).
Isaiah 11:1-10
tells us justice shall flourish because “A shoot shall sprout from the stump of
Jesse [Jesus’ ancestor]…. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. He shall
judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. There
shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be filled
with knowledge of the Lord as water covers the sea.”
The
root and beginning of all justice and peace, all renewal of Church, government
and society, is the knowledge of Jesus:
his knowledge shared with us, our intimate knowledge of him as a person, our
knowledge and acceptance of his knowledge as Light of the world. If we want our
lives to have meaning and value on earth, we have to begin with this: getting
to know Jesus, understanding his mind and heart.
Jesus
said all fulfillment consists in this: “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent” (John
17:3).
Luke 10: 21-24 tells
us that only through Jesus can we know the Father as he is, and only through
the Holy Spirit can we truly know Jesus: “No one knows the Son except the
Father and no one knows the Father except the Son — and anyone to whom the Son
wishes to reveal him.” But because we have become “sons and daughters in the
Son” by Baptism, true children of God, we can know the Father as the Son does:
“God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba!
Father!” (Galatians 4:6). Through the
actions of the Word of God made flesh, through the words of God recorded in Scripture,
and through the Spirit poured out in our hearts, we can know God. In this
knowledge is our fulfillment and the renewal of the world.
We
don’t have to be super-smart or super-educated to know God. What is “hidden
from the wise and the intelligent” God reveals even to little children — and to
all who come to him with the openness of children. We just have to come to him.
Advent
is an invitation to do this so that “Justice shall flourish in our time, and
fullness of peace forever.”
Initiative: If you seek
fulfillment, seek it where it can be found. Know Jesus. Set
aside some time to commune with Jesus. Choose a time of day and a place where
you can be quiet and peaceful. Read his words; ask yourself what they tell you
about the mind and heart of God, what meaning they have for your life, how you
can live them out in practice. Let yourself be “filled with knowledge of the
Lord as water covers the sea.” This is the path to fulfillment.
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November 30, 2016
WEDNESDAY, first week in Advent
Fulfillment Is On The Table
The Responsorial Psalm tells us where to
look for fulfillment: “I shall live in
the house of the Lord all my life” (Psalm
23).
We
grow to fulfillment by being with Jesus.
And this is only possible because he came
to be with us: “The Word became flesh and lived among us [literally, “pitched
his tent among us”], and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's
only son, full of grace and truth” (John
1:14).
Isaiah 25: 6-10
tells us: “On this mountain the Lord
of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food…. This is the Lord for
whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For the hand
of the Lord will rest on this mountain.”
In Matthew 15: 29-37 Jesus does what was
promised: He “went up the mountain….
Great crowds came to him… the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many
others…. and he cured them… Then Jesus said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd….
I do not want to send them away hungry….’ ”
So
the disciples canvassed the crowd and came up with seven loaves of bread “and a
few small fish,” which Jesus “took…
and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the
crowds.” And all were filled.”
Any
Christian would recognize this formula as the words of consecration repeated in
every Mass: Jesus “took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread and gave
it to his disciples, saying….” The bread Jesus gives is his own flesh and
blood, the living bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world.
Jesus’
promise is: “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and
whoever believes in me will never be
thirsty. The bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world”
(see John 6:33-51).
Where
Jesus is, the table is set. If we eat the Bread of life we will be filled. The
Church is the “mountain on which the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a
feast of rich food.” Jesus is the feast. He is our fulfillment and our joy.
With him “we shall live in the house of the Lord all our life” both now and
forever.
Initiative: If you seek
fulfillment, seek it where it can be found. Receive Jesus. Every time you receive Communion (try for daily!), be
aware of the mystery of the “Word made flesh” extended and given to us in the
mystery of the “flesh under the appearances of bread.” Be conscious that in
Communion your body is the “house of the Lord,” holding all you need for total
fulfillment, eternal joy. With Jesus you “shall live in the house of the Lord
all your life.” This is total fulfillment.
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December 1, 2016
THURSDAY, first week in Advent
A Rock To Build On
The Responsorial Psalm points to our
fulfillment: “Blessed is he who comes in
the name of the Lord!” (Psalm
118).
He
who comes in the name of the Lord is Jesus. Isaiah 26: 1-6 tells us that if the Lord is in our midst we have “a
strong city.” We can “trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God we have an
everlasting rock.” But we have to open our hearts to him, If we do, then the
gates to peace will be open to us: “Open up the gates to let in a nation that
is just, one that keeps faith. A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace; in
peace for its trust is in you.”
Jesus
came as the promised “Son of David” to fulfill all of God’s promises (see 2Samuel 7: 11-17). But he does not do
this unilaterally, by a divine act of magic. God chooses to make the work of
salvation depend on human response, human cooperation (see the invitation to
Mary, Luke 1:26-38). The grace to cooperate
is given to us, but we must use it.
Matthew 7: 21-27
tells us it is not those who just cry out, “Lord, Lord!” who will enter the
kingdom of God, but only those who do the will of the Father. It is true that
“in the Lord God we have an everlasting rock,” but this does us no good unless
we build on it. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods
came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because
it had been founded on rock.” But those who do not base their lives on Christ’s
words, those who do not act on them, “will be like a foolish man who built his
house on sand.”
Jesus
came to fulfill all of God’s promises to the human race, to offer us total,
all-satisfying fulfillment in this life and the next. But to be fulfilled by
Jesus we must fill ourselves with his words: read them, reflect on them, accept
them as true and build our life on them. We have to let his words be made flesh
in us in action.
Jesus
said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). He is the fullness of life for us, but only if we fully accept his truth and faithfully try, at least, to follow his way. If we intend to receive him into
our daily lives, to make him welcome, to give him an active part in everything
we do — in our home and school and social life, our business and politics —
then we can say with true joy and celebration: “Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord!”
Initiative: If you seek fulfillment,
seek it where it can be found. Respond to
Jesus. During Advent, try to make at least one decision a day based explicitly
and consciously on God’s word. (For this you need to read or recall it and
reflect on it).
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December 2, 2016
FRIDAY, first week in Advent:
Listen To The Light
The Responsorial
Psalm gives us the guiding light to fulfillment: “The Lord is my light and my salvation!” (Psalm 27).
Isaiah 29: 17-24
tells us that the Lord leads us “out of gloom and darkness” and into
fulfillment by making the deaf hear and the blind see. Then “those who err in
spirit will come to understanding, and those who find fault will accept
instruction.”
We
are gloomy and we gripe because we don’t feel fulfilled. Life is frustrating
because we are off course and society is off course. And there seems to be no
remedy for it. But there is. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Matthew 9:27-31
tells us Jesus is the remedy. Two men came to him who were blind. They weren’t
just walking around with their eyes closed or looking in the wrong place. They
were blind. They could not see. And Jesus healed them.
If
we think we are hopelessly confused — or our society is — we are not really
hoping in Jesus. He came to be the Light of the world. “The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” He is “the true light, which
enlightens everyone” (John 1: 4-14).
The light is here. It is available. If we come to Jesus he can enlighten us. If
we just walk in his light we will get to where we really want to go.
But
first we have to believe that Jesus really can enlighten us. He asked the two
blind men, “Are you confident I can do this?” We have to ask ourselves whether
we really do have confidence in him. If we don’t, we will listen bored to
Christ’s words read at Mass and look at the example of his life without real
attention. We won’t be listening to what we hear or really looking at what we
see. We won’t have hope.
“The
Lord is our light and our salvation!” If we let him be our light we will
experience that he is our salvation. But he can’t be one without the other.
Initiative: If you seek fulfillment,
seek it where it can be found. Listen to
Jesus. The wise men (Magi) followed the light of a star and found Jesus. The
shepherds listened to the song of the angels and found Jesus. Am I willing to
listen to whatever will help me find him? Will I read Scripture? Will I listen
in prayer to the voice of the Holy Spirit in my heart? Will I listen to the
teaching of the Church? Am I willing to make a decision now about when, where
and how I will do this?
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December 3, 2016
SATURDAY, first week in Advent:
Long For What You Ask For
The Responsorial
Psalm tells us who will find fulfillment: “Happy are all who long for the coming of the Lord!” (Isaiah 30:18 and Psalm 147).
Why
is longing so important?
Isaiah 30: 19-26
tells us it is because the Lord can answer the prayers of those who really want
them answered – if they are praying for what is important. “He will be gracious
to you when you cry out. As soon as he hears he will answer you.” But we have
to “cry out.” God has to hear urgency in our voices.
If
we ask for true fulfillment in life — for light to see what we should do and
for strength to do it — and really want what we ask for, God can give it to us.
But if we don’t really want to be fulfilled — if we just want a halfway
satisfying life on earth — then when Jesus offers us “life to the full” we
won’t accept it.
If
we say we want God’s guidance but really just want him to lead us down a path
we have already chosen, then when God writes out the directions for us in
Scripture we won’t read them. Then Jesus himself will be unable to guide us
into happiness and fulfillment. He won’t be able to answer our prayers. We have
to want what we pray for (and we can pray for this too!)
We
also have to be willing to accept Jesus’ help, no matter how he gives it.
Matthew 9: 35 to 10:8
tells us that “at the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved to
pity…because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” He wanted to respond to
their need, but knew that alone he could not. So he “summoned his twelve
disciples and gave them authority to expel unclean spirits, and to cure every
sickness and disease.”
Then
he sent them out with instructions to do what he was doing: “proclaim the good
news…. Cure the sick, raise the dead, heal the lepers, expel demons.” Jesus
can, and will fix whatever is wrong with the world. He can do it through his
Church, his disciples. But people have to accept them. All the members of his
Church have sins. If Jesus wants to help us badly enough to use sinful people,
we have to want his help badly enough to accept it from them.
Jesus
only sent his disciples to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” If any
place was not ready to hear the Good News, the disciples should not announce it
there. The Good News is a gift given freely, but it can only be given to those
who want to receive it. The Jews had been prepared by centuries of Scripture
and God-guided history. It took the death and resurrection of Jesus to open up
the rest of the world. What opened me?
“Happy are all who long for the coming of the
Lord!” The Lord will come to them! He will come because they long for him.
If
you want Jesus to come to you more deeply during the Christmas season, to make
himself more real to you, to let you experience “the warmth of his love” and “the
light of his Word,” the key to receiving him is desiring him. How badly do you want him? What do you want him for?
When did this begin in you?
This is what the
season of Advent is for: to focus our hearts on our desires. Advent invites us
to ask ourselves what it is we really want out of life.
It is a time to
stop following blindly the beaten path of culture; a time to take our bearings,
to look up to the heavens and chart a course by the stars — by the “fixed
star,” which is Jesus. “To you, my God, I
lift up my soul…”
Advent is an invitation to prepare the way of the Lord. Decide how you will do it.
Father in heaven, our hearts desire the warmth of
your love and our minds are searching for the light of your Word. Increase our
longing for Christ our Savior and give us strength to grow in love, that the
dawn of his coming may find us rejoicing in his presence and welcoming the
light of his truth. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Initiative: If you seek fulfillment,
seek it where it can be found.
Long for Jesus.
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