JOURNEY THROUGH ADVENT (1)

JOURNEY THROUGH ADVENT (1)

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Sit still…..Relax…….Do not rush………

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……You are breathing in the breath of life, the gift of God….breathe in all that is of God and from God and breathe out all that is not of God and from God……

Now I invite you to consecrate this day and all that come with this day….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……….

Gently, prayerfully reflect on the following thoughts:

One of the great traditions of Christian communities has been celebrating the season of Advent every year. Many customs, traditions, practices and rituals are observed during this season. At the heart of these observances and practices are great virtues which we must nurture. Let us make this morning’s meditation a very personal and intense reflection on some of the virtues underlying the many customs and practices.

May this season bless and transform our life by the virtues that give meaning to this season.

Blessed are you God, our father of all that is!

In your infinite mercy, you came to us in our distress

and gave us Jesus your Son, to be our savior and friend, our brother and redeemer.

We thank you, Father, for the gift of “Advent”,

Make it a time of Grace and peace for all of us. Amen.

This year, our Sunday Scripture readings for the season of advent are from “cycle B”

of the Lectionary. Themes of “watchfulness, mindfulness, prayerfulness and blamelessness” permeate the Scripture readings of the four Sundays of Advent.

Be watchful – Be mindful – Be prayerful – Be blameless.

The season of Advent is a time of joyful, faith-filled waiting. We are invited to consider the weeks of preparation for Christmas as an opportunity for nurturing a spirituality of waiting in expectation – not a passive, inactive, idle and unimaginative presence in space and time – but a dynamic, active and positively imaginative waiting – a spiritual posture of waiting and longing for Christ, praying and preparing for his ultimate appearance among us – a spirituality of hope, simple and pure optimism about us and the world around us.

Dynamic waiting, positive thinking, optimistic living, hope-filled anticipation and joyful and faith-filled presence are to characterize all our Advent days and nights because we wait for Jesus the incarnation of God’s steadfast, unconditional, everlasting and ever faithful love. Jesus came to liberate all people from all forms of enslavement: sickness, poverty, injustice, corruption, inequality and so on. Jesus, in words and deeds, taught us that salvation and liberation are not simply otherworldly realities – they are to shape and form and transform our life.

The Season of Advent is meant to be a deeply spiritual experience. It reminds us that our faith in God, our hope in His promises and our love for Him and each other are the greatest wealth that we possess. It reminds us that we are a privileged people, a people blessed and graced by God’s unconditional love revealed in Jesus; that God has not abandoned the world. He breaks into our history. He enters into our history. The birth of Jesus, the incarnation, is real. The presence of or even the height of evil must not discourage us. The apparent brokenness and disintegration will be healed. God continues to bring about healing, integrity and wholeness.

The season of Advent invites us to consider the weeks of preparation for Christmas as an opportune time for cultivating an Advent spirituality — a spiritual posture of waiting and longing for Jesus, praying and preparing for his ultimate appearance among us. Each week we are encouraged to deepen the Advent spirituality even further, both collectively and individually, by considering how the purpose of the one we await affects the character of our waiting. Joy and hope-filled anticipation are to characterize all our Advent days and nights, for Jesus is the loved one whose coming we await. Because he who comes is the very salvation of God, we who await him must give ourselves over to the work of salvation.

How can we, who await a compassionate and saving Lord, live in constant preparedness for his coming?

1. Those who await a compassionate Savior must allow the words of scripture to take hold of them just as those words took hold of the prophets, apostles, evangelists and many charismatic men and women in history. Those who “await” must read, reflect, study, pray and live the word of the Scripture. This means that they must allow themselves to be transformed by it, to be turned inside out by it, to be consumed by it, to be driven and directed by it.

1. Those who “await” must also let themselves be converted by the heart, mind, will and spirit of Christ. This means loving as he loved, serving as he served, living as he lived and, when necessary, suffering and dying as he suffered and died.

1. Those who “await” for the coming of the just one must give themselves to the work of justice. Jesus put the command to “love your neighbor” on a par with the command to love God, for he wanted his followers to understand that justice is not simply about giving others what they can prove they deserve. Rather, justice, God’s justice, Jesus’ justice, is born of a love of God, self and others that cannot help but serve others in their need, without any consideration of deservedness.

1. Advent preparedness is the reminder that it is not only the economically disadvantaged who fall under the title “poor.” As is illustrated repeatedly in scripture, the poor are also lepers, widows, orphans and sinners. Even the wealthy Zacchaeus was poor, in that he was an outcast, hated by his contemporaries. Therefore, our anticipation of the coming Christ requires that the poor be recognized and their needs attended, regardless of their monetary status.

1. Those who “await” for the coming of Christ must wait faithfully – fidelity to who and what we are, to all of our relationships – with God, with one another, with the world – and to all our responsibilities however big or small they may be. If the one for whom we prepare is, indeed, the very “faithfulness” of God, then it is through him, with him, in him and because of him that we are to live lives of fidelity while we wait for his coming.

The second readings of the first Sunday of Advent this year is Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians 3:12-4:2. Paul believed that the second coming of Christ was imminent. So he encouraged the Thessalonians to be prepared and be ready to meet him. The way to prepare was to “live lovingly and blamelessly”. He praised them for their sincerity of efforts in this regard and encouraged them to “make still greater progress”.

Advent is a time when we are specially reminded of living “lovingly and blamelessly”. May this Advent and the good news it proclaims challenge us to live lives that are loving and blameless.

The Gospel reading of the this Sunday is Luke 21:25-28; 34-36. In Luke 21:5-25 which precedes this excerpt, Luke describes the prophesies of Jesus regarding the fall of Jerusalem and the terrible experience that follow. They admired the beauty and glory of their temple – gazed at it with amazement! They thought they were privileged to be in the presence of a beautiful and enduring reality, the construction of which took over 80 years. Besides its obvious beauty, the fact that the temple was revered as God’s dwelling place on earth made it a permanent structure in Jewish life and spirituality. So, they were shocked at the prediction Jesus made! Even angry! When Luke wrote his Gospel, the prediction of Jesus had come true! The temple was gone! Titus and his troops had conquered Jerusalem and leveled the temple in 70 C.E.

But God had not gone from there, nor was he gone from the hearts of the believers!
The harsh realities that Jesus predicted did come true and believers faced them with courage. They were inherent in every aspect of discipleship.

Luke tells us how Jesus encouraged the disciples to accept these hardships as opportunities to bear witness to him and to the good news of salvation. He says: “stand up straight and raise your heads for your ransom is near at hand” – remember his teachings, trust his word and not give over to apocalyptic anxiety. He warned them about doomsday prophets, “many will come in my name………do not follow them…..….” He encourages us not to worry about fearful omens and not give in to the dread of suffering that could come as a result of following him.

Our faith today is being tested. We need to stand our ground – be deeply rooted in our faith tradition. Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to live “loving and blameless” lives. This is what Jesus teaches us today, “stand up straight and raise your heads…” Our faith must be true, our witness must be authentic and continuous, our prayer must be intense and unceasing, our service must be generous and practical, our hope must be our strength, our love must be forgiving and gracious and benevolent…….

Jesus had talked about the “Day of the Lord” and the terrible events that surround that day. He talked about what he himself had to face and what his disciples eventually would face. Hearing all this, the disciples wanted to know what they should do and what signs they should be looking for. Jesus used familiar imageries of sun, moon, stars, gathering of clouds, budding fig tree, etc. to describe the reality of God breaking into history. Jesus called them to recognize the coming of God in all happenings.

Be alert, stay awake and continue to fulfill the mission of Jesus in whatever situation you may be………recognize the presence and movement of God in all you do!

Jesus continued to call his disciples to be alert and awake and to stand strong. He told them about the difficulties ahead. Throughout his ministry, Jesus emphasized that the suffering of persecution for the sake of the Kingdom and for the cause of justice was an integral part of being a disciple. The “Day of the Lord” will come. No one knew the time or the day or the hour. God will break in at the least expected moment, through least expected events, people and situations. So it is urgent to stay awake, alert and prepared. Jesus said to them, “Pray constantly for strength…”

Be watchful – Be mindful – Be prayerful – Be blameless.

Take time during the week to reflect on the possibility of cultivating watchfulness, mindfulness, prayerfulness and blamelessness as enduring qualities of our Christian character. We will reflect more on these themes during the coming weeks.

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs