Anticipation and Hope
1. Intro. According to the Liturgical calendar, Advent is the beginning of the Church Year. So today is in a way our new year’s day!! To notify us of the arrival of the New Year, you must have noticed some things different from the ordinary. Look at the colours of the vestments – they are purple. Then there is the new missal, the advent wreath, what else!!
2. The word advent comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming or ad-venio, meaning to come to. And this Latin word itself is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the Second Coming of Christ.
3. What we celebrate in advent: The season of Advent does a dual reminder- of the original waiting that was done by the Jewish people for the birth of their Messiah as well as the waiting that we endure as we await the second coming of Christ. Therefore Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing. And the key words, as we heard in today’s Gospel, that we will hear from the scriptures in advent are- wait, stay awake, watch, hope, etc. Therefore, Advent is a time for rousing our minds and hearts for the Lord's coming. As his servants we watch for his will– continually seeking him; we watch for his word and his power – that he may act now to save and to deliver; and we watch for his visitation.
4. Why do we celebrate:
to prepare ourselves worthily to celebrate the Lord's coming as the incarnate God of love,
Through this preparation to make our souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy Eucharist and through grace,
And to make ourselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at the end of the world.
5. How do we celebrate: The vestment – the color indicates repentance- penance and fasting - abstinence. In short, the whole emphasis is on readiness, or preparedness to receive the Saviour on his coming by the purification of one self and of the system.
Yet the anticipation of the Coming of the Messiah throughout the Old Testament and Judaism was not in connection with remembrance of sins. Rather, it was in the context of oppression and injustice, the longing for redemption, not from personal guilt and sin but from the systemic evil of the world expressed in slavery, evil empires and tyrants. It is in that sense, that all creation groans for its redemption as we witness the evil that so dominates our world.
6. Then today we too need this deliverance from the system– Why the system- because in the first coming the people waited for deliverance from the systemic evils- from slavery and tyranny. We too need to labor for – even Christmas is hijacked by the greedy. World in a hurry to celebrate Christmas in its way without Christ.
7. However, we must note that the spirit of advent is not one of mourning and fasting and personal guilt and need for repentance. Rather it is celebrated as a time of joy and happiness as we await the coming of the King. We do observe penitential practices, fasting etc. to purify ourselves so as to prepare ourselves for the coming of the King of kings. But the spirit of Advent is that of hope, and expectation, in spite of all the troubling things that happen around us. The spirit of advent is one of eager waiting for the saviour, however distant He sometimes seems. The spirit of Advent is one of expectation and anticipation, a longing for God's actions to restore all things and vindicate the righteous.
And the spirit of that expectation permeates the readings in Advent: Look at the reading from prophet Isaiah today- It is from the last of the three sections of Isaiah, known as from Third Isaiah- People are back from the Babylonian exile. But they still felt really far from God - God as very distant. But the exile had made the self severing people, to submit themselves gently into the hands of God as the clay is docile in the hands of the potter- God is acknowledged as the great redeemer and Father - and the people despite feeling God being distant are not filled with anger but with expectation and gentle surrender to Him.
While we celebrate with gladness and expectation the great promise of Christ’s coming in Advent, yet there is also a serious tone as the theme of threat/ warning is added to the theme of promise. This is reflected in many of the Scripture readings for Advent, in which there is a strong prophetic tone of accountability and judgment on sin as in today’s gospel passage. And this is in line with the role of the Coming King who comes to rule, save, and judge the world. When I was thinking of a gospel passage that well summarizes this dual aspect of joyous expectation, with the somber threat to be prepared- I thought of the parable of the bridesmaids who are anxiously awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom (Matt 25:1-13). There is profound joy at the Bridegroom’s expected coming. And yet a warning of the need for preparation comes through the parable.
Because of the dual themes of threat and promise, Advent is a time of preparation that is marked besides, as we saw earlier by self purification, repentance and penance for one’s sins, also by prayer- prayers of devotion and commitment, prayers of submission, prayers for deliverance, prayers from those walking in darkness who are awaiting and anticipating a great light. You might remember the ejaculatory prayers.
Then the place of pious and charitable activities, of giving, of making sacrifices- We need to hand over this tradition of sacrifice and prayer to our children. Quote from Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s funeral– He gave himself up so that others may have life- The need to acquire, possess, succeed, dominate, to control, to manipulate– to enslave, inculcate the need to surrender gently in to the hands of the creator in sacrifice, giving up, service, abstinence and pious practices – Often the grown ups saw our children have too much - as someone said to me once – when I was a child I was longing to get a breakfast and there were many days that I went without it. Now I see my children giving a whole choice of cereals to their children so as to make them take something!
We need to hand over the prayer tradition to them too- For example, I presume, you will be getting the advent wreaths in your home– Have a little prayer everyday, especially on Sundays, before dinner - explain its significance– have a small reading from the bible – say a little prayer. Let us tell them that Christmas is not all about getting gifts, sending cards, vacation and trips – but it is a story of divine sharing- the father giving his son to us for our deliverance from sin and death.
Let us then make use of the period of Advent so that when he comes, as Paul says in today’s second reading He will find us worthy, watchful, waiting ready and blameless.