At the National Catholic Youth Conference a week ago, Pope Leo XIV appeared on video conference to share words of hope and encouragement with the Catholic youth in America, including several members of our Ignite Youth Group here at St. Albert the Great. and answer their questions. One of the things that struck me in the Holy Father’s message to the youth was when he said to them: “You are not only the future of the Church, you are the present! Your voices, your ideas, your faith matter right now, and the Church needs you, the Church needs what you have been given to share with all of us.” The Pope encouraged them to attend Sunday Mass, be active participants in the life of their parishes, to engage each other and help one another grow in their Catholic faith through youth group activities.
My sisters and brothers in Christ, while the Holy Father may have addressed the youth in attendance at the conference, his message is universal. It was not meant for them only but for the rest of us as well. Pope Leo XIV’s message echoes that of Saint Paul to the Romans, in today’s second reading, when Saint Paul wrote: “. . .it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.” Even more than that, it echoes our Lord Jesus Christ’s message in today’s Gospel to “stay awake! . . you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. . . [because] our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
Jesus tells us this himself when he said: "All that you see here–the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down" (Luke 21:5-11). And again, when Christ cleansed the temple and said “‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:19-21). The message from our Lord Jesus Christ is this, the “world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever” (1 John 2:17) because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). It is the message that God reveals to us in the readings these past few weeks as we prepare ourselves not only for the new liturgical year but for our own mortality. It is no coincidence that we prayed for the souls of the faithful departed in November because it reminds us that time flies and to remember death: “Tempus fugit, memento mori”
Therefore, let us not be lulled into a “spiritual sleep” by the busyness of the holiday season but rather “stay awake” by keeping our spiritual senses focused and resolute so that we can “walk in the light of the Lord!” While the rest of society is playing Christmas music and stores are putting Christmas merchandise on their shelves let us patiently and joyfully await the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Christmas while anticipating his second coming during the penitential season of Advent. It is as Saint Paul puts it in today’s second reading: “let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy.” Rather, let us listen to our Lord’s command to “stay awake!” lest we become like the people “in the days of Noah, [who] were eating and drinking. . . [and] did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.”
So how can we “stay awake!” spiritually? Well, every first day of the new year, we “[think] about [our] past mistakes and [resolve] to do better in the future.” Why not also make resolutions for the new liturgical year to “throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. . . [and] put on the Lord Jesus Christ”? Thus, while we are preparing for holiday gatherings with families and friends, buying, wrapping, giving, and opening presents, attending endless Christmas parties, etc., let us always remember to take more than a fleeting moment in the busyness of the holiday festivities to remind ourselves that the Son of Man not only came for us on that Christmas night 2,000 years ago but that he is coming for us once again because he loves us and desires for us to be with him for all eternity.
One of the traditions that can help us prepare our hearts for Christmas is the Advent wreath and four lighted candles like the one we see before us. “The circular shape of the Advent wreath symbolizes God’s infinite love for us – it is never-ending, just like the true Light of the World, Jesus, who leads us into eternal life with Him. . . The four candles of Advent represent the four Sundays of Advent, and they respectively symbolize hope, peace, joy, and love.”
“[The] first candle on the Advent wreath, sometimes called the ‘Prophecy Candle,’ represents Hope – the first Sunday of Advent not only leads us to anticipate the birth of Christ but celebrate the beginning of a new liturgical season as well. . . The second candle on the Advent wreath, or the “Bethlehem Candle,” represents Peace. . . [and] reminds us of Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem before Mary gave birth to Jesus. The third candle of Advent, or the “Shepherd’s Candle,” symbolizes Joy. . . [and] takes us back to the joyful anticipation of the shepherds who journeyed to see Jesus in Bethlehem, even before the wise men. . . The fourth candle of Advent, called the “Angel’s Candle,” represents Love, the ultimate love of God that He might send His only Son for us” (Hallow).
Lighting the wreath was a pagan tradition that the early Christians adopted to evangelize and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, the true God. It is as Saint Paul observed at the Areopagus: “For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’* What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). And so, in the same way that we prepare ourselves to come to the altar of the Lord to receive Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass, let us prepare ourselves to receive our Lord and our God in our hearts and homes this Advent season, glorifying the Lord by our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment