|
By John Fencik
The Church begins another liturgical
year as the season of Advent is upon us.
With its arrival come all of the preparations
for the wonderful feast of the
Nativity of Jesus.
Over the years, we have heard through
the Scriptures about the twofold nature of
Advent: preparing to celebrate the historical
event of Christ’s birth and preparing
for the fulfillment of his promise to one
day return to us. Thus, we celebrate the
past and await the future. Yet we might
ask, “What about the present?”
Perhaps there is another
way to look at the gift of
Advent as a time to refocus
our Christian lives as disciples
in a way that will truly
deepen our relationship with
Emmanuel–God with us.
For although we may be a
people who look forward to
his second coming, how we
“wait” for that glorious day
also is important.
Advent presents us with
that process of renewal of
our commitment to
Christ–a commitment
that truly must envelop
our daily lives.
Our faith in Christ
and his Church is not
simply another
“dimension” of our
lives, but it is THE
dimension that
should color each and
every moment of life.
John the Baptist called people to conversion
and to preparing the way of the
Lord. In a culture that preaches the gospel
of relativism and narcissism, the disciple
must see in the Incarnate Christ the living
example of “emptying” oneself for others.
The disciple sees in Advent the opportunity
to once more reject worldly false
“gospels” and turn toward the Word of
Life–Jesus Christ. His entering into our
world at Christmas is incomplete if we do
not prepare that pathway into our hearts
and then permit ourselves to be guided by
such a Christ-filled heart.
Origen, one of the early Church Fathers,
wrote in his Homilies on Luke: “The Lord
seeks to find in you a pathway to enter your
soul and complete his journey; thus prepare
for him that path of which it has been written
to ‘make straight in the desert a highway.’
Indeed, the voice is first to reach the
ears; then, after the voice, or rather together
with the voice, comes the word that penetrates
the hearing.”
Once the pathway has been made for
the Lord, the disciple then is faced with
accepting the invitation of Jesus to follow
him in forming one’s life on doing the
Father’s will, on living a truly Christ-like
life. This is reflected so beautifully in the
other major figure of the Advent
season–the Blessed Mother. Although free
from sin from her conception (a gift
already heralding God’s breaking into
human existence to draw us deeper into his
love and life), she still each day had to
shape her heart and soul into the image of
the Son she would bear one
day. When asked to put her
life of faith on the line,
Mary never hesitated in saying
“yes” to the Archangel
Gabriel.
Advent affords us
the opportunity once more
to reaffirm the “yes” of our
baptism, the “yes” strengthened
in our confirmation,
the “yes” renewed every
time we celebrate the Holy
Eucharist. Advent prepares
us to kneel on the Solemnity
of Christmas before the
crèche in awe of this
marvelous gift of
God himself and say
again, “Yes, I will
follow you, for you
truly are ‘the Way,
the Truth and the
Life.’” Mary not only
bore Jesus in her
womb, but she bore
him in her heart all
her life. She is the
perfect disciple who heard the Word of
God and kept it in her heart–pondering on
it over and over. So Advent beckons us to
renew our lives, to deepen the Christ within
us.
St. Augustine wrote in his
Discourses, “…may our hearts be full with
faith in Christ! The Virgin gave birth to the
Savior: may our souls give birth to salvation
and may we give birth to praise! Let
us not remain empty: may our souls be
life-producing for God!”
Advent truly is a Christmas gift.
John Fencik, diocesan director of
Catholic Formation Services, may be
reached at jfencik@diocesehelena.org
Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 26, No. 11, November 19, 2010.
|
