This new liturgical season of advent invites us to experience once again the longing for the Messiah, the Christ child. The season calls to mind the hunger of our soul, the desires of our heart, the longing of our Spirit to be lifted and fulfilled and to receive complete meaning. This longing in the human heart reveals a fundamental part of the Nature of being human. Within our being, within each and every person there is a hole in the heart that longs to be filled. Some have expressed that this fundamental hole in the heart of the person manifests itself most sharply when one feels loneliness. We must fill this void or we drown in meaninglessness.Pope Benedict points out in his new book Jesus of Nazareth that this expectation of the heart, this looking forward to something that may fulfill us, can reveal itself in "hope for a future of Justice, expectation for a future of peace, or a longing for a future in which we live more harmoniously with our environment. But these Utopian ideals can easily remove God from the picture."
We should long fore Peace, for Love, for Justice, for harmony, for all that is right and good. But for the Christian for us who follow Christ, our longing for these things expresses themselves in our longing for the Christ who fulfills all history. Our longing is a Holy Longing. Advent then is to enter a Holy Longing for the Prince of Peace, the King of Justice, the Giver of Love, the Ruler and Creator of the universe. We celebrate this longing then in our Catholic Liturgy by joyful expectation for the birth of Jesus Christ, which parallels our joyful longing for the coming of Christ in the end times.
Our culture, the times we are living in, unfortunately perverts our longings, promising fulfillment of life in disordered desires. We are constantly bombarded with the message that true satisfaction comes when you buy this product or that or when you quench the thirst of personal whims.
We know that there is nothing wrong with buying things that help us to live good right ordered lives, and we know that the next music cd I buy or the next computer program I get doesn’t really fulfill that deep longing of the heart. Even relationships with others don’t fulfill that deep longing in the soul.
The subtle danger that we must be aware of, that we must constantly be vigilant not to fall into is the danger of focusing our lives on the temporal things instead of the transcendent things. That is focusing our lives on the things that do not last wether it material possessions, temporary relationships such as the jobs we have, the positions we hold or the place find ourselves in at this particular moment of our life.
Jesus gives us a warning in the Advent scripture readings: "as the days of Noah, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage until Noah entered the ark.” They were ignoring the signs God was giving them. “They knew nothing until the flood swept them away!”
Jesus also tells a parable “two will be in the field; one will be taken one will be left. Two woman will be grinding meal together; one will be taken one will be left." This parable illustrates the condition and state of two souls. One distracted by the many concerns of life and the world, and one fully focused on the spiritual reality of the coming of the kingdom.
Advent is a time to reflect: are we truly longing for the eternal things? Realizing that only God is the happiness of our soul? Are we longing for him? Are we singing in our heart “O Come Divine Messiah” Are we prepared for the coming of the Lord or will we be caught off guard?
In the early church there was great sense of urgency in the longing for the Messiah’ return. Where is this urgency today? We only have this life that we have been given, a life to be lived fully, but a life that can only be lived fully when we give it away and give it to God. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all will be added unto you.” Somewhere along the way its seems that we have separated the notion that it is Christ the Messiah who brings Love, Peace, Justice, fullness of life into the world. Christ radically changed our world. He wants us to live fully in him. He is what our heart are truly longing for! We should all be calling out Maranatha come Lord Jesus!
Our culture, the times we are living in, unfortunately perverts our longings, promising fulfillment of life in disordered desires. We are constantly bombarded with the message that true satisfaction comes when you buy this product or that or when you quench the thirst of personal whims.
We know that there is nothing wrong with buying things that help us to live good right ordered lives, and we know that the next music cd I buy or the next computer program I get doesn’t really fulfill that deep longing of the heart. Even relationships with others don’t fulfill that deep longing in the soul.
The subtle danger that we must be aware of, that we must constantly be vigilant not to fall into is the danger of focusing our lives on the temporal things instead of the transcendent things. That is focusing our lives on the things that do not last wether it material possessions, temporary relationships such as the jobs we have, the positions we hold or the place find ourselves in at this particular moment of our life.
Jesus gives us a warning in the Advent scripture readings: "as the days of Noah, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage until Noah entered the ark.” They were ignoring the signs God was giving them. “They knew nothing until the flood swept them away!”
Jesus also tells a parable “two will be in the field; one will be taken one will be left. Two woman will be grinding meal together; one will be taken one will be left." This parable illustrates the condition and state of two souls. One distracted by the many concerns of life and the world, and one fully focused on the spiritual reality of the coming of the kingdom.
Advent is a time to reflect: are we truly longing for the eternal things? Realizing that only God is the happiness of our soul? Are we longing for him? Are we singing in our heart “O Come Divine Messiah” Are we prepared for the coming of the Lord or will we be caught off guard?
In the early church there was great sense of urgency in the longing for the Messiah’ return. Where is this urgency today? We only have this life that we have been given, a life to be lived fully, but a life that can only be lived fully when we give it away and give it to God. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all will be added unto you.” Somewhere along the way its seems that we have separated the notion that it is Christ the Messiah who brings Love, Peace, Justice, fullness of life into the world. Christ radically changed our world. He wants us to live fully in him. He is what our heart are truly longing for! We should all be calling out Maranatha come Lord Jesus!
Let renew the sacred longing of our heart and seek real communion with the Lord, joyfully waiting for the day of his birth at Christmas and the day of his return in glory! Happy Advent!
(Homily given on Dec 3rd 2007 the 1rst Sunday of Advent, by Fr Stephen Otvos)
(Painting by Bouguereau: Song of the Angels, 1881)
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