First Sunday of Advent

First Sunday of Advent

Fr. Ben Riley

Happy New Year! We celebrate today the First Sunday of Advent and the first day of a new liturgical year. This season has always been very spiritually powerful for me. It is a season of anticipation and preparation. We anticipate the Lord’s coming at Christmas; but we should also be mindful of preparing ourselves for His second coming, at the end of the age.

Our readings today put at the forefront this idea of preparation. Our first reading is from the book of Isaiah, who was The great prophet of the Old Testament and is rivaled only by the Psalms in his influence over Jewish and Christian theology. In many ways, Isaiah is to the Old Testament, what Saint Paul is to the New. Our reading comes from near the beginning of Isaiah, and it expresses the prophet’s hope for the restoration of Jerusalem. Isaiah sees a vision of hope against all odds, that the day will come when the nations of the earth will seek out the Lord and come to Mount Zion to learn his law, and the Word of the Lord will judge nations and bring them peace. Isaiah expresses this by saying,

“In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it; many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the House of the God of Jacob, that he might instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.”

To understand this passage, we have to recognize that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper and instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice on Mount Zion. Every time we celebrate Mass, we are taken sacramentally to the Upper Room, on this holy mountain. The Mass makes Mount Zion present. As people from all nations stream to Mass this weekend, there is a fulfillment of Isaiah’s words, that “many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain.” We here, today, are the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Working, striving, struggling, to climb the mountain of the Lord.

I have climbed many mountains, and it is hard work. Expeditions require lots of preparation and planning. First you have to choose the route, the proposed direction you wish to go, and be ready to take an alternate route if things don’t work out. You have to make sure there are not too many hazards on the way: deep crevasses, steep cliffs, loose rock, or avalanche-prone slopes. You also must be physically, emotionally, and spiritually ready for the journey, because there will be many times when you will want to give up.

Climbing the Lord’s mountain is no different. We know the destination, we desire to reach the summit, heaven, but there are many paths to get there and none of them is easy. They are not meant to be. Many people choose the route of matrimony. They rely on the strength of their spouse to help them journey up the mountain. Others are Sherpas, the priests and religious who lead others who may not know the way. Regardless of the path you choose, you must prepare yourself to take the Journey. First, shed the burden and weight of sin. There is no reason to try to climb the mountain with all that weight on your shoulders. Confess it, and cast it aside. Strengthen yourself with the wisdom of prayer and the nourishment of the Eucharist. And be aware of the dangers. Saint Paul warns us about them in our second reading.

“Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” The pursuit of one’s personal pleasure (weather by food, sex, drugs, or other idols) is almost always at odds with authentic love for other persons, both human and divine. Physical indulgence distorts our personality, inhibits our ability to sacrifice and give of ourselves. Therefore, it makes us bad “lovers,” that is, persons not able to love well. Since God is love, we end up at odds with God. Like an avalanche, we become swept away in physical pleasures. As we climb the mountain of the Lord, it is good to occasionally look up and revel in the beauty surrounding us, to take stock of and appreciate the many gifts God has given us. Pleasure is not a bad thing. It is a gift from God, but we must realize too, that it is not God. If we put pleasure or comfort at the top of our mountain as the source and summit, the highest good and our ultimate goal, we will reach that goal, but we will lose heaven, we will lose Zion in the process. We should enjoy the good things God has given us, but not become obsessed by them.

As we begin this Advent season, we recognize the need for preparation because as we prepare for and anticipate the Lord’s coming at Christmas, we also prepare for His second coming. We do not know when our lives will be asked of us, and we do not know when He will come again. For many who don’t believe, this thought fills them with dread, fear, or they choose to ignore it. But for us, for those who call themselves Christian, it should fill us with hope.

Human beings cannot live without hope. Unlike animals, we are blessed with the ability to think about the future and to gear our actions to shaping it. So essential is this to human life, that human beings cannot live without hope, without something to live for, without something to look forward to. To be without hope, to have nothing to live for, is to surrender to death and despair.

But one of the reasons why we read the Old Testament during Advent is to learn what to hope for. The people of the Old Testament had the courage to hope for big things: that the desert would be turned into fertile land, that their scattered and divided people would eventually be gathered again, that the blind would see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, that not only their own people, but all the peoples of the earth, would be united in the blessings of everlasting peace. Clearly, their hopes were no different from ours; lasting peace, tranquil lives, and an end to suffering, pain and misery.

Thus, we hope for the same things as the Old Testament people, for their hopes are not yet realized. But we differ from them in two ways. First, the coming of Jesus in history, as a partial fulfillment of God’s promises, immeasurably confirms and strengthens our hope. And Second, we differ from the Old Testament people because Jesus has revealed to us that God is not far off, but is already in our midst.

So this Advent, I present to you a challenge. Do not let this season pass you by unnoticed. We are all climbing the Lord’s mountain. Let’s support one another on the journey. “The day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.”LikeCommentShare