I always think it’s great that we celebrate Christmas in the middle of winter
when the weather is often the most miserable (unless you are in
Florida where I am at the moment!). Outside it is usually dark,
cold and wet. Then we begin to light candles and put up colored
lights and decorations to remind us of the coming of our King. It
is a time of great hope and hopefully also a time that will bring
joy. ‘Advent’—which simply means ‘coming’—is meant
to be a time of preparing for two things: we are preparing for the
coming of Jesus at Christmas, and we are also remembering that Christ
will come again at the end of time. Each Sunday in the Creed we
say that, ‘He will come again to judge the living and the dead.’ We
don’t know when that will be, but we believe that it will
happen. The Lord asks us to ‘stay awake’ and not to forget
him, because none of us know when we will die, but the important
thing is that we do not forget the Lord, who loves us and who created
us. And so each Christmas we remember that Jesus came among us, for
us, to help us, to teach us about God, about the world to
come, and above all to die for us so that we can join in the
happiness of God when we die ourselves.
The best way that we
can prepare ourselves is in the heart, by trying to give time to God
and being open to what He wants to say to us. The Lord is
constantly speaking to us but often we are not listening because we
are too busy or distracted. People sometimes ask me if God
speaks to me. Yes God speaks to me all the time, but not through
visions or voices. It's usually through other people or through the
Scriptures. It took me quite a while to learn how to listen so that I
might hear what God is saying to me. Advent is a good time to try and
listen again and hear what the Lord has to say to us. That is
why the readings are about getting ready for the one who is coming,
and not being so distracted by the world around us that we forget
him.
One thing that is
characteristic of the Gospels is that they are full of hope. The
message of God to us—the Good News—is always one of hope and it
is certainly something we need in a world where we are constantly
hearing of so many terrible things happening around us. However,
we don't hear of all the wonderful things that are constantly
happening around us: the many acts of kindness that people
continually do for each other, looking out for each other especially
when we are struggling. This is the Spirit at work in us and
this is what makes the world bearable, in spite of the awful things
that happen.
In
the Gospel reading today, Jesus is telling us that while we get on
with the ordinary things of everyday life—eating, drinking,
marrying, working—we must not forget the bigger things. It is a
warning to us never to become so immersed in time and the things of
the world, that we forget eternity. Even though the worldly affairs
are important, we must not let them distract us from the reality of
God; the reality that we will die, that life and death are in his
hands, and that whenever He does come for us, He must find us ready.
In
one sense we can never be ready enough for God. How do you prepare to
meet God? And yet this is what God has created us for and we believe
it will be wonderful beyond our wildest dreams, if we have made any
effort to be ready.
Jesus
says that when the Son of Man comes, of two people doing the same
thing, one will be taken the other left. What does this mean? It
means that although both people were doing the same ordinary things
that we all have to do, one of them had not forgotten about God, but
the other had; the one who had forgotten got left behind.
If
we get totally immersed in the world, or in our families, or in our
work, then we have missed what it is about, because there is much
more to our life than this.
As
you well know it is often when someone becomes seriously ill, or
dies, that we suddenly start realizing how much we have become
immersed in the world. We do have to get on with the day to day
things of working and living, but we are being told to make sure that
we also make time for God.
I
think a good recipe for a ‘happy’ Christmas, is to keep it
simple and spend some time coming up to Christmas remembering what it
is about. Even go to mass once a week, or spend a few minutes in a
church every few days. That way we will remember what we are
celebrating.
The
Angel said to the shepherds: do not be afraid.
I
bring you news of great joy.
Today
in the town of David
a
Saviour has been born for you;
He
is Christ the Lord.
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