Sunday 3rd of December 2023 - The First Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 63:16-17,64:1,3-8/ Psalm 79(80)/ 1 Corinthians 1:3-9/ Mark 13:33-37

As I get older the years seem to pass more quickly. The Church’s year leads us from Advent to Christmas then to Lent and Easter and before we know it, back towards Christmas again. We are now at the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the four-week preparation for Christmas. The readings today remind us that we should always remain ready for the coming of Jesus. The first reading, from Isaiah, the prophet of the Messiah, is a prayer for the redeemer to come down from heaven. The passage concludes by beautifully likening us to clay being moulded by God the potter. Our Christian faith should urge us to follow God’s will for us and not pursue our own will. If we allow him God will mould us into conformity with his will against the resistance of the clay of our our own will.

The short gospel passage has Jesus telling us to be ‘on your guard’ and to ‘stay awake’ when the master returns he must not find us asleep. We live in the period between the first coming of Jesus and his promised return. We know he will return, and we must not grow weary as we wait for him. Not knowing when the return will be it is tempting to be distracted by the things of the world around us. It is not helped by the way the secular world we live in increasingly tries to drive out all trace of God and the things of eternity. Everything is about satisfying our desires now rather than waiting for and being prepared for the return of Jesus. We are, as St Paul puts it, ‘waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed’.

This is the time of year that big corporations vie for our hard-earned money. I understand their desire to advertise their goods, but I do not want to be preached at by them. Increasingly it seems that big business tries to use its advertising campaigns to mould society in some way or another. One famous brand attempting this year to be so inclusive in its advertising that it seems to miss the point of Christmas altogether. In being desperate to be alive to the social issues of the day it appeared to leave any trace of a father figure out altogether. Shops should be telling us where we can buy things and how much they will cost, not lecture us on how to live and what to think.

Fortunately, we have Advent to bring us back to the reality of this season. It is not Christmas yet but a time to prepare for it, a time of hopeful, joy filled anticipation, a time when we remember God coming to us in the human person of Jesus, and a time to prepare for the return he promised.

Each season that the Church gives us in the liturgical year points to a particular grace that we can receive from God. In this season of Advent, we are given the grace to appreciate what we received when Jesus came among us and what it will mean when he returns. The hard sell of commercialism can swamp the message of Advent leading to an expectation that can never be fulfilled and a Christmas that tries to please through consumerism and overindulgence. We can still engage with the world around us if we remain focussed on the child Jesus in the manger and the promise of his return as king and God.

How do we maintain this focus when there are so many distractions around us? We can use our daily prayers to point us towards the celebration of Christmas. We could read the Mass readings and psalms of the day even if we cannot get to Mass on a weekday. These will show us how the coming of the Massiah was anticipated down the ages and eventually fulfilled by Jesus. It is this anticipation that we can foster between now and Christmas day.

There seem to be many bleak things going on in the world, people use this season to try and address the anxiety in their lives by eating, drinking, and giving and receiving gifts that are quite often not needed or wanted. Yes, parties are good, celebrations are uplifting, and the exchange of presents can be wonderful, but they must have a meaning behind them and not simply an end in themselves. If not, the celebrations will have little meaning and will fizzle out by Boxing Day.

There is only one present for Christmas, and that is the gift of Jesus to the World. All our celebrations and presents are there to remind us of this and to reflect the giving nature of our God. This is a time to draw closer to God’s gift of Jesus to us, to unwrap that gift so that we can get to know God better each year. A time to give thanks for his coming into our time and space and to look forward to the return of Jesus whenever that may be.

While the materialistic world celebrates its holiday season ending up often deflated and disappointed on Boxing Day, we use Advent to joyfully prepare to receive Jesus at Christmas and then spend the weeks afterwards truly celebrating the season of Christmas.

While the world is trying to squeeze Christ out of Christmas let us well and truly welcome him into it.

God Bless Brendan.