Sunday, December 18, 2011
Fourth Sunday in Advent
My dear faithful:
The season of Advent is a season of preparation.
We are looking forward to something that is coming to us.
Our feeling of anticipation grows the closer we get to Christmas.
That feeling that something great is about to happen.
Something wonderful that has the power to change our lives and
make them better.
We are very close now. The
Office of Matins started today with the words: “The Lord, who now is
nigh at hand, O come, let us worship.”
And yesterday the final countdown to Christmas began with the
opening of the season of Sapientiatide, these last seven days before
Christmas Eve which the Church solemnizes each day with the Great O
Antiphons at Vespers.
Today’s Mass continues this theme of preparation.
The Gospel is different from most other Masses of the year.
Have you noticed how usually the Gospel begins with the words “In
illo tempore”—At that time, it came to pass..”?
But not today. Today
is a historical document, placing the greatest event in the world’s
history, the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the context of the world
at large. It has a sound of
solemnity, and indeed this is a solemn announcement:
that in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when
Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and King Herod was the tetrarch of
Galilee, when Annas and Caiphas were the high priests in Jerusalem, at
this time, in the FULLNESS of time, as the Gospel puts it, Our Lord
Jesus Christ was born.
The world had been prepared for this great event.
After many hundreds of years of war, the western world had
finally been completely subjugated by the mighty Roman Empire.
All the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, the center of
western civilization, were now at peace, united under Rome, and ready
for the coming of a single religion.
The Holy Land itself and the Jewish people had also been prepared for
the coming of their Messiah.
For hundreds of years the prophets of the Old Testament had been telling
of the coming of a Saviour, who would redeem them from their sin.
And now finally, the greatest of all these prophets had been
born, St. John Baptist, whose mission was to prepare the way of the
Lord.
Most importantly of all, a mother had been chosen for this Messiah.
Chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of God.
And she had been suitably prepared for this mission.
She had been prepared for the coming of the Son of God in her
womb. God prepared her by
giving her the unique privilege of being conceived without Original Sin.
Of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam, she alone was given that
tremendous privilege.
This week we follow Our Lady and St. Joseph to Bethlehem.
“And thou Bethlehem,” says the
Prophet Micah, “in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes
of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my
people Israel.” Bethlehem,
from whence had come the great King of Israel, King David, in a
pre-figuration of Our Lord himself, who slew the giant Goliath and
redeemed his people. St.
Joseph was of the house and lineage of David.
And so when a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be taxed, and all went to be taxed, every one to his own
city, it is for this reason that this last week of Advent, the last week
of Our Lady’s Expectation, finds her accompanying her spouse to his own
city, David’s Royal City, Bethlehem, to fulfill the prophecy of Micah.
And what are they to find after their long and arduous journey from
Galilee? Not a single inn
had any room for them.
Because of the huge influx of people coming to be taxed, there was no
room for them at the inn.
And so Our Lady and St. Joseph had to make do with a lowly stable,
where the Son of God was to be born that night amid the farm animals.
Imagine how St. Joseph worked to prepare that stable to make it
as suitable as he possibly could for the coming of the Most High.
There would be visitors that night.
Shepherds would come from the local hills, alerted by the angels
and their singing of Glory Be to God in the highest.
Wise men would arrive from the East, following a star of wonder,
giving gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
But most of all, the greatest visitor of all would come down from
heaven to redeem his people.
And so St. Joseph swept out the stable and made it ready for his coming.
Have you swept out your stable yet?
Have you prepared a place in your heart where the little Christ
Child may shelter from the piercing cold of midnight?
Have you done what the greatest of the prophets, St. John
Baptist, asked you to do? It
is as if St. John Baptist takes us to the mountains of Judea and shows
us Bethlehem in the distance, and then gives us these instructions,
echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill
shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
places plain.” This is what
we need to do. We need first
of all to make low every mountain and hill.
These mountains are our mortal sins, and the hills are our venial
sins, sins of thought, word, and deed.
And we must remove all these sins from our soul.
And then we need to exalt every valley.
The valleys are our sins of omission, which often comprise the
majority of our sins—a huge collection of the good things we ought to
have done, but neglected to do so.
Maybe out of laziness, or not enough love of God, or whatever
reason. But sins all the
same. Let us strive this
last week of Advent to make straight our crooked ways, and make our
rough places plain.
And when Our Lord then comes to our soul, in communion at the Midnight
Mass of Christmas, let him not find that there is no place in that inn.
Let him not seek shelter in your heart, only to find that it is
already full. Full of sin
perhaps? Or full of unlawful
desires and affections? Or
by love of riches, honour, vanity?
By self-worship? Or
simply by the affection and desire for the things of this world, the
material gifts and presents of Christmas…
If your soul is full of these things, then do as the good St. Joseph
did. Sweep out your stable.
Empty it of everything that is not suitable to share a place with
the Christ Child this Christmas.
Make a good and holy Confession and prepare your soul to be a
worthy shelter for this little baby whose only desire is to save your
soul and prepare it for heaven.
And above all this week, follow in the footsteps of the Blessed Virgin
Mary as she treads the path towards Bethlehem to give birth.
She alone, from all eternity, had been found worthy to bear the
Son of God. As the rod grew
from the Root of Jesse, it found its home in the Blessed Mother, and
took flower. She is the
Flower of the Field, the Lily of the Valley.
She is our role model during Advent.
This is the season of Our Lady’s Expectation, and we should
meditate often and profoundly on our Blessed Mother, and the thoughts
and hopes that were going through her own mind at this time.
We must follow her from her home in Nazareth where she received
the message of the Angel Gabriel, to the home of her cousin Elizabeth,
mother of St. John the Baptist who was to the Forerunner of Our Lord,
the Messenger of God, he who was to prepare the way of the Lord.
In this last week of Advent, we follow Our Lady all the way to
Bethlehem, where she would bring forth a Saviour who would be called
Emmanuel, God with Us.
Follow her by the preparation of your own heart.
Follow her example and her courage, her patience and endurance,
and follow her above all in her love for her Son, Our Lord Emmanuel,
that when Christmas comes, we might ALL bring forth Our Blessed Lord in
our thoughts, our words, and our deeds, that all men might see, by our
example, their Redemption.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen