The Hard Work and the Joy of Advent

The first Sunday of Advent
The Hard Work & the Joy of Advent
November 28, 2010, First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:37-44

First reading

This is what Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 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 people shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Glory to you, Lord.

Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men shall be out in the field; one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord shall come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man shall come.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction
The Extraordinary Time of Advent

Today we exit Ordinary Time and enter into the Extraordinary Time of Advent in preparation for Christmas 2010. Today is New Year’s Day in the Church. Today we go from liturgical Cycle C to Cycle A for the Scripture readings at Mass. This past church year the gospel readings were from Luke; this new church year they will be from Matthew. The liturgical color of the vestments for Advent is purple -- the color for penance. Before Vatican II, Advent like Lent was strictly a penitential season which frowned upon all partying, gift-giving and decorating before December 24. After Vatican II, Pope Paul VI in 1969 approved a revised Roman liturgical calendar which describes Advent as a “season of joyful expectation,” though not denying its penitential dimension.

Two feasts of lights

The physical darkness of these days is building up to December 21, the shortest day of the year, with only 9 short hours of light and 15 long hours of darkness. The increasing physical darkness of these days is intensified also by hard economic times, never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ever-present threats from Islamic terrorists, and by the recent midterm elections which were blackened by mean-spiritedness and gridlock, instead of being suffused with a burning desire to do the work of the people.

Into this darkness come two Feasts of Lights: Christmas for Christians and Hanukkah[1] for Jews. This Sunday, November28, 2010, we light the first of the four candles on the Advent wreath, as a fourfold genuflection to Christmas - our Feast of Lights. And on Thursday, December 2, 2010, our Jewish brethren at sundown will light the first of the eight candles of Hanukkah - their Feast of Lights. (Jn 10:22)

Hanukkah -- a feast of light gone astray

Johannes Buxtorf (1564 – 1629), an ancient Jewish scholar, writes about how his people have strayed far the original inspirations of their religious feasts. He tells how his fellow-Jews had smothered the Feast of Hanukkah (their Feast of Lights) under a blanket of revelry and busyness:

They celebrate it today more by eating, drinking and having fun than by giving thanks to God for their victory over the enemy. They prepare a seven branch
menorah, and then light one candle each day until the eighth night. The candles are not allowed to burn all night long. While they are burning, no one is allowed to do any work in the house. The menorah itself must stand on the right side of the door, not less than ten paces from the ground, and not higher than twenty. And they often hold subtle and futile discussions on how long the lights should burn, who should light them, whether or not it is permitted to light one light with the other, and similar things. In the observance of our Feast of Lights they are very fussy about the outer light but are not concerned about the great darkness which abides in their hearts.

Christmas – a feast of light gone astray

As we are about to launch off into the Advent-Christmas season, Buxtorf‘s words speak poignantly also to us. They indict us also for having strayed far from the original inspiration of Christmas: “an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”(Lk 2:12) We too smother our Feast of Lights under a blanket of revelry and busyness. Of us Buxtorf would write:

They are busy decorating everything with a million lights for their Feast of Lights, and all the while ”they are not concerned about the great darkness which abides in their hearts.” Their Advent-Christmas season makes them unrelentingly busy. They are busy with parties they have to host or attend. They are busy with Christmas cards they have to write or answer. They are busy with shopping for gifts they have to buy for themselves and others. They are busy with trips they have to make, and with visiting relatives they have to accommodate. They are busy hurrying and scurrying here, there and everywhere, except to the stable where they would find the reason for their season: “an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a
manger.”

Thanksgiving – a feast not gone astray

Last Thursday the Nation celebrated what is perhaps its most cherished feast--Thanksgiving. It is, for sure, the Nation’s purest feast. Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day have deteriorated mostly into picnic days in parks. Thanksgiving, however, has remained true to its original inspiration. It still sends us (loaded down with no other gift but ourselves) “over the river and through the woods” to grandmother’s house, to give thanks for the basic blessings: for family and friends, a roof over our head, a warm bed to sleep in and food aplenty to eat.

A recent trend

Is Advent a season of penance? Or is it “a season of joyful expectation” of the Lord's first coming at Christmas and of His second coming at the end of time? Or is it a season of both penance and joyful expectation? The revised liturgical calendar of Paul VI did not deny that Advent is a season of penance; it simply affirmed that Advent is also a “season of joyful expectation.” Penance doesn’t exclude joy, and joy doesn’t exclude penance. A recent trend, however, turns Advent into a season of joy only, with no price of penance to pay.

Bryan Owen, writer and poet, takes to task the trend that makes Advent only”a season of joyful expectation” and neglects its penitential dimension. He writes,

Why, then, do we sometimes hear clergy and laypersons so emphatically deny that these themes [of sin and repentance] are an intrinsic part of the Advent season? I don’t want to paint with too broad of a brush, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s because we are increasingly uncomfortable with btheological concepts like “sin” and “repentance,” and perhaps especially at a time of the year when our consumer culture is in high “feel good” gear. It’s just so much easier (and more fun) to go with the path of least resistance and join the party. By contrast, themes of sin and repentance convey the clear message that we need to change, that we need transformation in order to be ready for Christmas, that we need to wait for the celebration in God’s time, and that it’s inappropriate and even unfaithful to jump the gun by celebrating too early without doing the hard work of repentance in the light of God’s grace.

The future tense: promise

The Scripture readings at Mass for Early Advent (till Dec. 17) are especially from the prophet of Advent – Isaiah. He speaks to us about the heavy-duty work that needs to be done, and he promises that better things are to come. Accordingly, the verbs of the Scripture readings for Early Advent are in the future tense, which is the tense of promise.

“In those days they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives. (Is 2:4) "In those days the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." (Is 11:6) “In those days every valley shall be fill in, every mountain and hill shall be made low.” (Is 40:4 & Mt 3:3) Etc.

The past tense: story

When Late Advent (or the Novena of Christmas) begins on the 17th the mood of the Scripture readings at Mass changes dramatically. They no longer speak about the heavy-duty work that needs to be done, like beating swords into plowshares and leveling off mountains. The readings no longer are filled with promises of better things to come; they now speak about the good thing that has already come to pass! Accordingly, the verbs of the Scripture readings for Late Advent are in the past tense, which is the tense of history and story. Late Advent delights the child in us as it tells one story after another:

“Once upon a time an angel named Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, a priest burning incense on the altar and announced that he and his wife Elizabeth in their old age would bear a son, who would announce the coming of the Messiah.” (Lk 1: 5-25) “Once upon a time an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds keeping watch over sheep and announced the birth of a savior in the City of David.”(Lk 2:8-20) “Once upon a time an angel of the Lord named Gabriel appeared to a maiden named Mary, and announced that she would virginally conceive a son whom she shall name Jesus.” (Lk 1:26-38) Etc.

As the readings of Late Advent tell us the many stories that make up the one great Story of Christmas, the mood of Advent changes from heavy-duty work to be done to joyful expectation.

Conclusion
Not jumping the gun

Bryan Owen bids us to not “jump the gun by celebrating too early without doing the hard work” of Advent first. In the past we were forbidden to not jump the gun, and we had to do the hard work first, and to do it right up to Christmas Eve itself! The old Advent made us wait until the 24th to decorate the tree, to open our gifts and to indulge in the tastes and sounds of the season. Now days, Christmas begins the day after Thanksgiving when people rush to shopping malls and trample each other under foot, trying to get into stores and lay hold of a bargain. It’s a scene absolutely obscene to behold, especially at this time of the rolling year. By the 26th their trees are thrown out on the curb, and they are left depressed by the season of “joyful expectation.”’

Early Advent invites us “to not jump the gun,” to hold off with the joy part of Advent and to do its hard work first (beating our swords into plowshares and leveling off our mountains). With the hard work done first, the holiday season won’t leave us depressed but filled with joy, the tree won’t be thrown out on the curb by 26th,, and we will find ourselves clinging on to Christmas at least until the Three Kings arrive on Epiphany.

[1] Hanukkah (a Hebrew word meaning `rededication’) commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek tyrant of the 2nd century B.C. Hanukkah is also known as The Feast of Lights, because of the 8 candles on the menorah (candelabra ) which were lit for the 8 days of rededication.