Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
For almost 1,500 years, the Church has set aside the weeks immediately before Christmas to focus on Jesus’ coming, not just on Christmas day, but also His second coming at the end of time. There is in our observance of Advent a sense of the past, the present and the yet to come.
Jesus—God incarnate—came to us two thousand years ago, at a particular time and place, forever changing human history and restoring our fractured relationship with God. We live now in the present, encountering Jesus in Scripture, in the sacraments and in our faith communities. We encounter Him and serve Him in our neighbor.
Yet, we also look forward to Jesus’ second coming. In the Gospel reading from Mark for the first Sunday of Advent last weekend, Jesus tells his disciples, “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the Lord of the house is coming…May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” (Mk: 33, 35-37). Again, in this weekend’s second reading, St. Peter, reminds Jesus’ followers that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.” (2 Pet 3: 10)
These stark words seem be at odds with the “glad tidings” of the Christmas season. Indeed, there is a kind of tension in the readings for the first two Sundays of Advent, as they seem to alternate between vigilance, and repentance and joyful anticipation, between the coming judgment and God’s mercy and care. We see the prophet John crying out in a wilderness of sin and despair, but also the promise of a new heaven and a new earth.
Rather than trying to enkindle anxiety, the scripture readings are calling us to be ready for Jesus’ second coming—His coming in glory at the end of time, but also His coming when He will come to judge us individually—by more faithfully and prayerfully discerning and doing God’s will.
As we live out our call of Christian discipleship in the present, we live in the time between Jesus’ first coming and His coming again in the future. The early Christians felt a kind of tension in which they were longing for Jesus’ coming again, but were frustrated at not knowing precisely when. However, in this tension, they lived in a way that they were not so rooted to the world that they became unmindful of that second coming.
Do we feel this tension? Do we yearn for the time of Jesus’ coming again in glory and the moment when He will come to judge us personally? What will we say when Jesus asks, “How were you ‘me’ in the world?” What will we say when He asks, “How have you lived the truths you proclaim?” How will we answer when He asks, “Were you so attached to the things of this world that you preferred them to everything else?”
Tension is a French word derived from the Latin “tensus,” meaning a stretching. In this sense, it is natural and appropriate that we experience tension in our lives as Jesus followers as we strive daily to live the Gospel. Surely, we feel the tension of knowing what we are called to be as baptized Christians, but often failing. As Saint Paul says, “I do not what I want.” (Rom 7:15). Even so, with God’s grace, we stretch beyond the comfortable, reaching beyond our self-interest and human frailties to love as Jesus loves. Our faith is connected to the past, it is lived in the present and it looks with anticipation to the future. This tension can be a kind of grace, giving energy to our mission and lifting us out of complacency.
At this time, we are as a diocese undergoing great change in order to respond to the challenges facing the Church and to grow into stronger communities of faith, hope and love. At this time of transition, we experience what was, what we are now, and what we hope to be. There is natural tension in this, too. We look back with gratitude at all that has been accomplished in the building of God’s kingdom, yet find ourselves in the present knowing that we cannot stand still if we are to progress on our journey of faith. We know that the future lies ahead, but it sometimes may be shrouded in uncertainty. Yet, we move forward full of anticipation, but also with real hope, knowing that as we traverse the peaks and valleys ahead, it is a faithful God who guides us and will care for us along the way.
Pope Benedict XVI said on the First Sunday of Advent, “The ardent invocation of the early Christian community—‘Come Lord Jesus’—must become, dear friends, also our constant aspiration, the aspiration of the Church of every age, which longs and prepares for the encounter with its Lord.” May this Advent season be for you and your families a time of blessing, renewal, hope and prayerful preparation for Jesus’ coming.
Fraternally,
Most Reverend Joseph A. Galante, D.D. J.C.D.
Bishop of Camden