The End and the Beginning

During the month of November, we come to the end of one liturgical year and the beginning of another.  The first Sunday of the new liturgical year is the Sunday closest to November 30, the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle.  We will conclude our focus on the Gospel of Matthew in Year A and begin to make our way through the Gospel of Mark in Year B.

And yet there is also a continuity that occurs in the end of one liturgical year and the beginning of a new one.  At the end of this year, we were focused on the 25^th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, in particular on a number of parables that speak to the coming kingdom of God and the lessons surrounding it.  It spoke to us of the coming judgment that is awaiting us all.  The weeks of Advent that are ahead for us are also a season of waiting.  In fact, the word itself comes from the Latin ‘Adventus’ or the older ‘ad-venire’ which is a waiting for someone or something to come. 

But things do change a bit as well.  As we will go through the coming Advent season, our attention will shift from a reflection on our waiting for the Second Coming of Christ to a commemoration of  the world waiting for the First Coming of Christ in His birth at the Nativity.  It is still a time of waiting, but the emphasis has changed.  But in this time of transition, we must also realize that we are called to consider, not just the ultimate goal of our waiting, but also what is occurring in the waiting itself.

In our time of waiting, not only for the ultimate coming of the kingdom of God in the Second Coming of Christ, but also as we are waiting for our celebration of the Nativity of our Lord, we also realize that even in these moments of expectation, Jesus is still present to us.  In fact one of the ways in which the entire Christian faith is presented to us is one of ‘now but not yet.’  The waiting part is the ‘not yet’ but there is also a ‘now’ that we must attend to in our life of worship, prayer and work. 

The coming Advent is considered to be a penitential season of the liturgical year.  It is certainly a bit different from the season of Lent, but it still has a penitential aspect.  So now is the time to take advantage of this penitential mood and make plans for our spiritual preparation in this coming month of December.  We will have the opportunity in various places within the Church to participate in Advent spiritual retreats and Advent services of penance.  Make it a point to attend these spiritual opportunities, and if you cannot, there is still a way in which you can take seriously the penitential aspect of the coming season.  At the beginning of the Mass Book within our parish churches, there is a section entitled “Examination of Conscience,” for you to consider.  It is broken up into three major sections, “Duties towards God,” “Personal Life” and “Duties towards Others.”  Each of these sections also gives a number of questions for us to reflect upon our own spiritual progress in living good and holy lives.  This reminds us that in our daily living as well as our worship life, we must place God first, others second and ourselves last.  But we also know that in each of these cases, we often fall short of what God has commanded us.

Advent is also a time that can allow us to bring our own daily living into our times of reflection upon spiritual matters.  I am sure that like me, many of you will be spending the upcoming weeks getting ready for the holidays, and certainly these are important matters for our times together with family and those whom we love.  But I encourage you to bring a spiritual aspect to all of these events as well.  When you are shopping for gifts, make sure that you include within them prayers for those who play an important role in your daily life.  It is also a time when we can think about giving to those who might be in need during this season as well.

When we are cleaning our homes for the season, let us take the same attitude about cleaning our own lives of sins and bad habits.  Hopefully we are not just cleaning in a haphazard way but rather are being thorough and careful.  Let us then be thorough and careful as we examine our lives for habits of sin and selfishness that must be rooted out with the help of the sacraments.

I’m sure that we will also spend much time in decorating over the upcoming season.  We will make plans about where things will go, we will then spend much time and effort in getting things just in the right places, so that our homes will be beautiful.  We need to take the same attitude in adorning our lives with acts of good deeds and kindness so that we will beautify our lives and our existence, as we strive to grow closer to God and prepare ourselves for the coming of His Son.  

It is also important that we realize that even in our time of waiting that we not only focus on the ‘not yet’ but also on the ‘now’ of our Catholic Christian faith.  Even in this time of waiting, there are many ways in which we can encounter our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  As we mentioned above we do this in a sacramental way when we approach the Sacrament of Penance during penitential services and Holy Mass each Sunday.  We have the opportunity within the Advent season to reflect on the people that we meet in Scripture during Advent as well: the prophets who announce the coming of the Messiah to us; John the Baptist, who reminds us to create a straight path for Jesus within our lives; and the Blessed Virgin Mary, through whom the Messiah will be born.  We especially have the opportunity to encounter the coming Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar when we receive Holy Communion at Mass.

In another opportunity during the Advent season, we will gather for the Rorate Masses on early mornings during the week to strive to reflect on the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary as we seek to model our lives on hers and then join her in saying yes to God in serving Him and bringing Christ into the world.

During the end of the liturgical year we focus our attention on the end of all things and the coming of the kingdom of God when Jesus comes again in glory and power to judge the living and the dead.  We shift our attention during Advent to our waiting for the celebration of our Lord and Savior coming to us in the Incarnation at His Nativity.  Let us not lose the reality that we must also know that Jesus is with us now in our time of waiting and expectation.  During this Advent that will soon be upon us, seek ways to grow closer to Christ: during the celebration of Holy Mass when we receive Him present in the Most Blessed Sacrament and in our prayer life as we find ways to bring clean hearts and souls to the celebration of His coming.

In this time of Advent longing,
We await the Savior’s coming.
Filled with hope and expectation
Of the coming peace, salvation.

Send forth dew from heaven on high,
For the Savior’s birth is nigh.
May the dew enrich the earth,
Yield the righteous One in birth.

In this time of Advent longing,
We await the Savior’s coming.
Let us cleanse both heart and mind,
For the birth of Christ divine.