We are well into Advent. Our Blessed Mother, in luminous celebration as Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Immaculate Conception, is watching close by. In God’s time, she journeys to Bethlehem with Joseph. It is a journey of unprecedented preparation and purification of time and space. A birth is about to take place to change the world. Quietly the heavens prepare.
The apocalyptic readings leading to Advent foretell not only the first but the second coming of Christ. Two comings are intrinsically tied together in our Christian understanding of the temporal world as created by God. The earth was born in a primordial struggle between chaos and God, and evil was restrained. Then came the wounding of original sin, the choice of Adam and Eve, the proof that the privilege and responsibility of free will is a gift of highest consequence, to be irrevocably honored by God.
Now, the need for a savior. With the Yes of the Virgin Mary, another free choice has been made. God will enter creation as man Himself; to teach, heal and prophesy. To suffer, die and be resurrected. To return in the Spirit and offer salvation to all who will be baptized into His sacrifice and mission. For unto us a child is born. . . A son is given. . . And His name will be Wonderful Counselor, God Hero, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Is 9:6).
Joseph and Mary, heavy with child, walk the winding road to a manger. Our Advent eyes on the first coming, we are called to contemplate the second. God’s gentle invasion into the world through the womb of a virgin shall be victorious and complete. There is a day of the Lord to come where the heavens resound, the Lamb shall return in glory, and all creation returned to the Creator. The ultimate weapon of victory shall be the weapon of Love. The second Christmas has dawned.
What signs do we see of His coming? The crowds in the Gospel of Luke (proclaimed this past weekend) see signs and portents of a cosmic upheaval and turn to John the Baptist: “What should we do?” He answers, stay the course, be sensible, repent, turn back to God.
It is with extraordinary humility that we acknowledge that each one of us is made in the image and likeness of that child born of Mary, that Prince of Peace who is to come again. Our necessary repentance, letting go of worldly progress and concerns, returning to first causes, is given into our Advent preparations for the celebration of the first and in anticipation of the second, final Christmas. Do we see/feel/experience an anticipation of great joy, or something less? Cynicism? Dread?
Repent, for the Kingdom is at hand. We must take a step back, and return to the real meaning of Christmas, for God to move us forward. Guadete Sunday raises expectations: What needs to be prepared and purified, that these expectations be not dread but rather anticipation of great joy? Are we ready to welcome this child Jesus into our hearts, our homes, our lives? It is time to choose our God freely, His plan, this Child. We will find Him immediately present. Listen, watch, pray and prepare,
Come, Lord Jesus, Come. . . .
+Most Reverend Stephen J. Berg
Bishop of Pueblo
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