Homily 1st Sunday of Advent year B- Homily for 3 December 2023

 

At last, December is here, which means it's time to start preparing for Christmas. We have got to buy new clothes, start planning the menu and the holidays…where shall we go this Christmas break? Surely these must be the thoughts at the top of our minds as we look forward to Christmas. However, for the Church, the preparation for Christmas entails something quite different. This season of preparation is known as the season of Advent. The liturgical year brings us the life of Christ from his birth at Christmas to his death, resurrection, and bestowal of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It continues for the remaining weeks of the year to show us the life of the faithful in and through that gift of the Holy Spirit. Advent is seen as the introduction to this whole mystery. The word advent comes from the Latin word ‘adventus’ which means coming.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistercian monk and mystic, mentions there are three comings – the first is that of Christ taking birth in flesh and weakness, the second coming is at the end of time in glory and majesty and the third lies between the other two in which Jesus comes in spirit and power for our rest and consolation. It points to the arrival of Christ to dwell in our hearts. This middle coming is like a road leading from the first to the last. For us this middle coming is of more concern as it affects our very reality of life. This coming focuses on loving and keeping the Word of God.  Where is God’s word to be kept? Not on a bookshelf alone but it is in the heart. He writes, “Let it enter into your very being, let it take possession of your desires and your whole way of life. Feed on goodness, and your soul will delight in its richness. Remember to eat your bread, or your heart will wither away. Fill your soul with richness and strength…. If you keep the word of God in this way, it will also keep you. The Son with the Father will come to you. Let us now reflect on the readings which bring out this rich meaning of Advent.

The 1st reading taken from the Prophet Isaiah is part of the writings from the post-exilic phase—after Cyrus of Persia gave the Jewish exiles permission to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple. This section is a lengthy prayer of lament since their life after returning was not an easy one. Divisions and opposition impeded the progress of building the temple.  The prophet addresses Yahweh as father and persuades Yahweh to return to Israel and save them. The unique quality of Yahweh is that he is present to “those who wait for him.” To “wait for” the Lord is to live in faith. The prayer acknowledges Israel’s sin and the consequences of that sin. Separated from God, Israel has become weak and disheartened. Yet, in spite of everything, God is our Father who always hopes against hope that the child will return home. God is addressed as the potter and humans as clay. When an artist fashions a piece of art, the artist and the art are inseparably bound together. Israel might have sinned, but Israel is God’s people, and Yahweh is Israel’s God. As we begin the season of advent we need to reflect on this imagery of God as a potter and ourselves as clay. Have I allowed God to mould me? Have I surrendered my life to God’s will? Am I clay ready to be molded or am I a stone, hard and determined to follow my own ways?

In the 2nd reading taken from St. Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians, Paul emphasizes that grace and peace are blessings bestowed by “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” and not something that the Corinthian Christians can produce on their own. God has enriched the Corinthian Christians with the gifts of speech and knowledge, however, people began to take pride in their gifts of speech, and knowledge, and therefore he highlights the importance of love above all these. Paul’s confidence that these Corinthian Christians will be held blameless on Judgment Day is based, not on their faithfulness, but on the faithfulness of God. God is trustworthy because he loves us with steadfast love. Just as God continued his covenant relationship with Israel through thick and thin, so also, we can trust him to continue his relationship with us in spite of our sins. Like the early church, God is at work—even in the midst of the chaos that we create. As we await the revelation of God’s Son during this Advent, we are invited to look for God’s work among us and be reminded of the gifts that God has given us.

The gospel taken from Mark focuses on the Advent theme of waiting. The English text reads “Beware, keep alert; for you don’t know when the time will come.” Interestingly, the Greek language has two words for the word ‘time:

• the first is Chronos which has to do with chronological time or time in a general sense.

• the second and this is the word which is used in the original Greek is Kairos (καιρός) which has to do with a crucial time or a decisive moment, a pivotal point in history. E.g. when we say, “Now is the time to act!” we are talking about a decisive moment––Kairos time.

So while following the clock and being punctual will help us in keeping the Chronos time, our preparation for Advent pertains to the Kairos time - that decisive moment, that crucial opportunity that will define our fate for all of eternity. God is the master of the house and we are his doorkeepers, charged with keeping watch. The gospel urges us to ‘Keep awake.’ Keeping awake has to do with spiritual wakefulness, our spiritual preparation and readiness for the Kairos moment of Christ’s coming again.

Just as in the corporate world, we have annual appraisals that determine our future in the company, Advent is a spiritual appraisal. It is a time to take stock of our lives. How can I become the best version of myself? As we begin the season of Advent let us bring to mind our sinfulness as we hope in God’s fatherly mercy. Let’s set some time aside to determine if we live like clay allowing ourselves to be molded by the potter. Are we living God’s plan for our lives? The mystery of Advent is the mystery of God coming to us at every moment in the third or the middle coming. Life is uncertain and we seek certainty. Although we may not know what is to come, we certainly know Who is to come. May you have a fruitful Advent season. May God bless us all and our families.