topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
 The Fourth Sunday of Advent (C)
21 December 03


 

So here we are…only three shopping days left until Christmas!  Even if the kids are nearly delirious with visions of sugar plums and adults have most of the shopping, decorating, and office parties finished, there’s probably a load of chores yet to be completed.  Oftentimes, the things of “this world” force us to be so busy in the weeks following Thanksgiving that there’s literally no time to take a step back and inhale a deep breath.  Just getting ready for the holidays is enough of a chore that, come Christmas day, we find ourselves needing a vacation to recoup our energies!

Advent, of course, is the season of the Church year where, for a period of twenty eight days, people who desire to allow a more spiritual or religious perspective to shape their lives each Christmas (and every day of the year, for that matter) literally have to force themselves to take that all-important and necessary step back and to inhale that very important deep breath of fresh air so that the fruits of waiting for the coming of Christ will be revealed in joyful hearts prepared to receive him.

There are three types of waiting through which we can prepare our hearts to receive Christ with joy and to radiate the joy of his presence to others.  Each type of waiting presents its unique challenges.

The first type of waiting involves taking a step back and inhaling a deep breath when we don’t get what we want “right now.”  Kids understand the challenge presented by this type of waiting, of course, because right now they’re waiting in eager anticipation for Christmas day to come and to behold that stash of loot beneath the Christmas tree.  But, for those of us who are a little bit older, to appreciate the challenge this type of waiting presents in our own lives, all we have to do is to take our place in one of those long checkout lines during the month of December, perhaps at Wal-Mart, the Post Office, the grocery store, or a department store at the King of Prussia Mall.

I don’t know about you, but I always seem to pick the wrong line.  It’s the one line that always looks like its moving along pretty well but the very moment I take my place in the line and someone else gets in line behind me, this line always comes to a screeching, dead halt.  There’s nothing to do; there’s no place to go; I feel like a prisoner; and, I know that the moment I switch to another line, I’ll only have to wait longer.  So, all I can do is stand there and wait for things to get moving.

But what’s to be learned when we discover ourselves standing in those lines waiting to pay for our parcels?

Did you ever notice how that particular experience of waiting makes it real easy to grow impatient?  And, if not to grow impatient yourself, have you ever seen how quickly others grow impatient?  I’ve watched some people humph and grumph; I’ve watched others roll their eyes in distain, then make spiteful comments under their breath; I’ve also spied others who allow their frustration to morph into anger and, sometimes, even rage.

This type of waiting can make life feel burdensome and, if we choose to allow that burden to overwhelm us, we become increasingly irritable and, sometimes, downright surly.  What could have been a moment to take a step back, inhale a deep breath, and learn and practice what patience requires, we turn into a burden for others by sharing the fruits of our impatience as we complain, gripe, and snipe at them.  And, if not with people at the store, we allow these behaviors to spill over onto those around us at home.  Merry Christmas!

This type of waiting challenges us to learn patience by opening ourselves to the experience of waiting and learning what it has to teach us.  This moment might come as we stand in a line at a store but it could also be when we’re merging into traffic at 7:15 a.m. where Route 422 East and Trooper Road meet or where Germantown Pike and Routes 276 and 476 merge.  But, on this fourth Sunday of Advent, the lesson is simple: only people who are patient can welcome Christ into their lives.  Why?  Because Christ isn’t a cable channel that comes “On Demand.”  Instead, Christ comes into a world disfigured by the power of evil.  Only people who are patient are prepared to receive Christ with joy even in the middle of all the chaos and tumult characterizing daily life.

A second type of waiting is the kind of waiting that kids experience as they eagerly anticipate Santa Claus’ arrival on Christmas Eve.  Did you ever notice how kids will let themselves become so filled with anxious anticipation about what Santa might bring them that, after being told in no uncertain terms to go to bed, the kids find it all but impossible to fall asleep?

Now, it’s absolutely clear that what these kids have done is to allow something outside of them to so consume their attention and energy that they can’t do what they need to do.  These kids have become “eccentric,” that is, “de-centered.”

This second type of waiting teaches us about the tendency all of us have to allow our hopes and expectations to outpace our needs and responsibilities.  We allow things outside of us to work us up into such a dither that we neglect doing what we know we need to do.  Then, as we grow increasingly eccentric, we believe that we’re entirely normal and everyone else somehow is abnormal.  Unless someone or something forces us to step back and to inhale a deep breath, we will make begin to make decisions and behave in ways that everyone around us knows have little or nothing to do with reality and very much to do with our little fantasy.

Teenagers who’ve “fallen in love” and married persons who enter into extramarital affairs understand what this type of waiting requires and they don’t like it.  These people become so focused upon—if not obsessed with—this “true” love that they stop thinking about anything else.  Their fantasy so de-centers them to the point that they actually become consumed by it and forget about who they are, the commitments they have made and their responsibilities to others, as well as what they need to do right here and now.  Just try to convince someone who has allowed himself to be ensnared by this trap that he has “lost his marbles”!  Some become so audacious that they actually claim to be “victims” and blame everyone else “who just doesn’t understand” for the situation they have created.  What self-deception!

When we avoid learning the lessons that this type of waiting can teach us, we choose to become increasingly selfish.  Slowly but surely, we forget about what we need to be doing as well as our obligations and responsibilities for others.  And, as we become blind to what we need to do as well as our obligations and responsibilities for others, we invite an untold amount of trouble and mayhem into our own lives and we also introduce it into the lives of others as well.  By choosing not to take a step back and to inhale that deep breath so that we might develop some perspective by re-centering ourselves in what is truly important, we invite the primeval force of evil—chaos—to re-enter not only our hearts but our world as well.

Waiting in moments like these presents no small challenge.  But, to wait and not to plunge into the swirling waters that will destroy us teaches how important it is to remain focused upon what is truly important, namely, what we have committed ourselves to, what we need to be not only for ourselves but also others, and what we need to do here and now in this particular situation.  When we don’t take that step back and inhale that deep breath, we allow ourselves to become eccentric and close our hearts to Christ’s advent.  Only those who are truly “centered” are able to welcome Christ joyfully into their hearts.

There’s a third type of waiting, one that today’s gospel alludes to in the story of Mary and Elizabeth.  It’s the type of waiting that builds excitement within us that suddenly explodes into joy when, at long last, people come together again.

The story isn’t merely about two pregnant women visiting one another.  Although the Visitation is an important moment in salvation history, this story is also about the excitement Mary experienced after all of her waiting and preparing as she neared Elizabeth’s house.  And, it’s also about the excitement Elizabeth experienced after all of her waiting when she finally saw Mary approaching the house.  On this day, two cousins had very happy news to share with each another.  Notice how poor Elizabeth just couldn’t contain herself as her excitement at her cousin’s arrival caused her to “cry out in a loud voice.”  “Shrieked” or “screamed” might be more worthy translations!

Oftentimes, and especially now when our Armed Services personnel return home from a tour of duty overseas, I see how this type of waiting and preparation builds hopeful expectation and excitement in us.  When I get off of the airplane and head toward to the baggage area at the airport and, once I pass by the security check point, I normally will see family members and friends of fellow passengers huddled together.  As they exchange small talk, each of them periodically will peer into the crowd to see if they can find the person whose arrival they eagerly anticipate.  Sometimes, the family members and friends will have balloons and bouquets of flowers or handmade signs welcoming that special person.

It’s not hard at all to see the anticipation building on their faces as more and more people deplane and head past the security checkpoint.  Then, when the individual they are waiting for finally appears in the crowd, those who have gathered shriek, scream, holler, jump about, clap their hands, hug one another, and cry tears of joy.

I’m sure you’ve seen this in your own experience.  Have you ever felt a little jealousy when there was no welcoming committee to greet you?

Waiting like this teaches us about the importance of those cementing those unshakeable bonds somewhere deep in our hearts that unite us with others.  Because these people care for others more than they care for themselves, they’ve shared moments of doubt and fear, of joy and happiness, of pain and sadness, or wonderment and awe.  And, now, when all of their preparations are completed, all of the waiting is over, and that person finally arrives to warm and generous hearts prepared to welcome him, their hearts are brimming over with joy.

People who care only for themselves have no deep connections and shared experiences with others.   And, they also have no one waiting for them when they return.  Instead, they go to the long-term parking lot, pick up their car, pay their parking bill, and make their way home. 

Being patient because we know that the line in the store will eventually move, by remaining focused upon our responsibilities toward others, and by receiving others with hearts wide open and full of joy…these are the fruits of deep religious and spiritual living we nurture during the four weeks of Advent as we wait and prepare for the coming of Christ celebrated on Christmas day.

As we take a step back, as we pause, and as we inhale a deep breath, we actively prepare to receive Christ when he comes.  Christ may come in the cashier or person in front of us or behind us in line at the store who we calm down with a kind greeting or word.  Christ may come in a teenager or friend who we challenge to “re-center” themselves as the choices they’ve made move farther and farther away from center.  Or, Christ may come when joy so fills our hearts that we embrace an estranged family member who finally returns like the Prodigal Son.  Yes, Christ comes in the hearts of those who have waited and prepared themselves to bear Christ and to reveal him in their actions.

When we “wait in joyful hope for the coming of our savior Jesus Christ,” we don’t just sit back and wait for Christ to come in some unknown, future moment of glory.  Instead, we actively prepare ourselves to receive him with hearts teeming with joy.  And, when Christ does come and takes his place in our hearts, the hoped for expectation and the excitement of the moment will compel us to reach out to those in need just as Christ himself reached out to them.  And, in that moment, we will experience the joy and the peace of God’s kingdom—the mystery which we call “Christmas day”—when those who have prepared for the Lord’s coming will greet one another with hearts brimming over with love and will live together in peace.

 

 

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