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The season of Advent this year lasts 26 whole, entire, and complete days. This is a kid’s nightmare because that’s just about the longest number of days Advent can last, meaning that Santa’s arrival is still a very long, long way off! While adults can chuckle at the predicament facing our young people during the season of Advent, I think that nightmare give all of us something that we need to consider very carefully. This image reveals how twisted around and backwards we adults also have things in our minds because our goal is, as St. Paul reminded the Thessalonians:
May the Lord make you
increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we
have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in
holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus
with all his holy ones. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” the aphorism instructs us. Those of us who are adults had better not be too critical of our young people unless we are equally critical of ourselves! To get at this image and what it reveals, consider the notion of time. When we find ourselves getting anxious and upset because the season of Advent is going to take a lot longer than we would like, it’s sort of like sitting in class and watching the clock tick each of the minutes away. I learned this lesson in math class which, for some reason, year after year for twelve years always was the class I had to take just before lunch. To begin with, I couldn’t stand math and I also couldn’t wait for lunch…sort of like young people who can’t stand Advent being so long and having to wait for Santa Claus to arrive. So there I was in math class, watching the minutes tick away and ruminating about what I was going to be having for lunch and the ice cream sandwich I was going to buy for dessert. For years, I noted that something always happened as I would watch those minutes tick away, so much so that, by the time I was taking Algebra in high school, I had definitively Iabeled what is now famously called “Jacobs’ theorem of the inverse proportionality of time.” Never heard of it? Well, maybe my theorem isn’t so famous, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not 100% true! Here’s how I developed my theorem: While I would pay attention to the teacher and go over my homework, perform the calculations we were to practice, or study the properties I was being taught and didn’t understand, I would glance at the clock periodically and I noted that the first twenty or so minutes of math class would tick away at about the same rate. Then, as I would begin thinking about the fact that lunch and that ice cream sandwich I was going to buy were just twenty minutes away, I noted how the next ten minutes sss-lll--ooooo---wwwwwww----eeeeeeeee-----dddddddddd down and, for at least the last ten minutes of math class, it seemed to me the clock had all but stopped. Those last few minutes were ticking away like those last few drops of molasses dripping out of a jar. That was bad enough. Worse yet, if the math teacher went beyond the allotted time for class—a rather frequent occurrence, for my math teachers so loved their academic discipline they always ran past the time limit forgetting about their subject (me and the other kids)—the clock sped up to warp speed. Five minutes would just fly by and ten minutes in the blink of an eye! It was like the clock had turned into a fan circulating the hot classroom air during the months of September and May! That observation learned over years of careful investigation is what I labeled “Jacobs’ theorem of the inverse proportionality of time.” That is, the less I was interested in something, the slower time ticked away. Inversely, the more I was interested in something, the faster time flew by. So, the key idea to learn is that I need to gin up some interest and enthusiasm during those times when I may not be all that interested or enthusiastic about something. Applying that idea to the season of Advent, when we focus upon the arrival of Santa Claus and the cornucopia of unbridled avarice we are hoping Santa will bestow upon us in brilliantly wrapped and glittering bundles, the first two weeks of Advent pass by somewhat normally. But, as the day of Santa’s arrival nears around the third but definitely during the fourth week of Advent, it seems as if time stops dead in its tracks. The days drag on seemingly without end. As feelings of heightened anticipation pulsate diathrambically through the very marrow of our bones, the light practically disappears to the point that darkness now seems to surround us 24/7/4—the 4 representing the 4 long weeks of Advent. Frustrated, we ask ourselves: “Why is it taking so long for Santa Claus to come?” Some of us are so audacious that we ask our parents if we can open one of the gifts already stashed under the tree...likely a “boring” gift. Or, worse yet, we wait until nobody’s around and we sneak a peek at a gift by carefully opening it and then very carefully rewrapping it and replacing it under the decorated tree. Been there? Done that? So, what does this reveal about how backwards we have things in our minds when our goal is to “increase and abound in love for one another and for all”? The first thing it reveals is how, as individuals and as a society, we have become increasingly impatient, so much so, that waiting for anything has become almost unbearable. We want our Internet browsers to download what we want to see faster than the speed of light. We want to be in constant communication with people, so much so that we get upset when we don’t receive immediate responses to our emails, our text messages, or our Twitter “tweets.” We even get impatient waiting for that person ahead of us at the U-Scan line at Giants. “Why didn’t the idiot take all of that stuff to the regular line? Isn’t U-Scan for people making small purchases like me?” we ask ourselves, silently of course! Just this past week, I’ve noticed new advertisement for cell phones. Perhaps you’ve seen it. It begins with a question: “Which company has the most 3G connectivity?” Well, that’s not what really matters because, if you having been watching or have any familiarity with the development of WiFi technology, 4G connectivity is just around the corner and that’s what you really want, don’t you? Even faster download of everything you want: videos, text messages, pictures, and the like. Who wants 3G connectivity in a 4G world? Let’s also not forget the new advertisement not for “regular fast food” but for “really fast food.” If you go to the drive-up window at the McDonalds located just up the street on Trooper Road, the menu sign promises that your order will be delivered to you within two minutes. Now, if that’s not fast enough for you and I’ve witnessed that it’s not for some people, consider Steven Bigari, a McDonald’s franchisee who has dramatically increased the efficiency of his 12 McDonald’s by reducing its drive-through order time by 30 seconds to a little more than one-minute per transaction. The average McDonald’s drive-through average order time is 2 minutes and 36 seconds. Plus, Steve has increased the number of cars his drive-throughs handle by 15% from 226 cars per hour to 260 cars. “This transforms my business. It’s bigger than drive-through,” contends Bigari. It appears that, for many of us, delayed gratification is an experience we are no longer willing to countenance. We want it our way and we want it right now! The season of Advent challenges us to change in this regard by presenting a more human and realistic way to think about time because human life is not about instant gratification. No, the most important and meaningful experiences in life—like friendship, love, and forgiveness—are like golf, that is, they take time, practice, and patience. The season of Advent forces us to confront and change how we think about time so that our goal will be to use the time we have today to squeeze the most meaning possible into each and every day. What is it we can learn as we squeeze the most meaning possible into these coming days of Advent? Most importantly, is simply the value of time. What’s important in life is to do what we need to do today because there is no guarantee of a tomorrow. When we recognize this truth, we then need to get our priorities right so that we do what we need to do today, not putting off until tomorrow what we need to do today. People who do what they need to do today will have no regrets tomorrow. In contrast, people who put off until tomorrow what they need to do today will be full of regrets tomorrow and the remainder of their days as well. The way we perceive time slowing down as Santa’s arrival nears reveals a second way we think backwards, especially about the problems we face today. Think about what Jesus told his disciples in today’s gospel:
There will be signs in
the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in
dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the
world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken....Beware that
your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and
the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like
a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the
face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you
have the strength to escape the tribulation that are immanent.... Many people—perhaps many of us—are feeling very anxious and discomforted by a host of problems, especially those having their origins in the nation’s current economic crisis that took their comfort, tossed it up in the air, spun it around a few times, and now slammed back down upon the ground like a WWF or WWE wrestler. As a result, they’ve found themselves on the ropes and in real jeopardy. But, people suffering from this anxiety and discomfort have things backwards in their minds: these problems are nothing more than the consequence of having decided to live purely on “credit” rather than purchasing only what they had sufficient cash to pay for. That is why some of these people are having to contemplate the frightful reality of bankruptcy. They’ve dug themselves into a pit and many cannot see the light of day. They should be anxious and discomforted! There also are those many other people today who feel anxious and discomforted by unemployment, the lack of adequate health insurance, a dwindling retirement nest egg, and mounting unpaid bills. All of this has forced all too many of these people into a downward financial, emotional, and moral spiral. In retrospect, the philosophy of “Live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself,” has proven itself to be eminently unsound if the goal is to be happy. In retrospect, were the people who are overwhelmed by these kinds of pressures to be able press the “undo” button on their lives, it’s likely they would and now know they should have made better choices early on. Advent provides us that “undo button”—what the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner called “the comfort of time” (Theological Investigations, 3:10, pp. 141-157)—to recognize the true source of our discomfort and to do something about it. To utilize time well, there are three very small things we can do that can have a very powerful impact upon our lives by changing how we think about things. First: we can make sure that when we wake up every morning during this season of Advent, we can thank God for the gift of life. We oftentimes take for granted the great gift the Creator has bestowed upon us, wrongly thinking that we are the eternal ones who God has intended to rule over all creation. Second: we can also take inventory of those who matter the most in our lives: not ourselves or our bosses but the members of our families. Again, we oftentimes take these individuals all too much for granted, thinking wrongly that we can treat them as if they exist to love and serve us rather than recalling that God has created us to love and serve them. Third: we can decide what we need to do today: to play with the kids, to help family members in their need, or to be there for someone—like a troubled and anxious spouse or a troubled and anxious teenager—who needs just 15 minutes of our time. We wrongly think that God has given us the comfort of time to do everything we want to do. Sorry, but the truth is quite the opposite! God has given the comfort of time to do what we need to do. These are three little things we can do each day of this season of Advent that will help us get our minds thinking correctly again by focusing us upon what we need to do each day. Now back to our young people for one moment. There is one very big thing—an “extremely humongous” thing—that you absolutely need to do each day of Advent. This is your special task that can get your minds thinking correctly again: recall that Advent is about preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ and the good news God sent him to bring us, not the arrival of Santa Claus with the stash of goodies he has for you. When you have done this well and all of us have done this well—as Jesus said to his disciples, “do this in memory of me”—we have prepared ourselves to light the Advent candle to dispel the darkness from our lives and to invite the light of Christ to shine in what otherwise would be darkness of our days as we experience anxiety and discomfort longing for everything we want, neglectful of everything we need that God has already bestowed upon us.
A brief
commercial break... As Catholics, we prepare for Christ's coming by celebrating the season of Advent. During these four weeks, we prepare the way for Christ to come into our lives each and every day, not just on Christmas day. For Catholic families, let me suggest five practical ways to prepare for Christ's coming: 1. Place an advent wreath in the center of your dinner table. Each evening before sitting down for dinner, have one member offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the gift of life, recall by name those who matter the most in the family's life, and name one thing that individual will do before the day ends to meet a family member's need. The individual offering the prayer will then light the appropriate candle(s). Looking for an advent wreath? The best advent wreath (and Christmas wreath, by the way) is made of holly not evergreen. The elements of holly (the holly itself and the red berries) recall the crucifixion of Christ. He was crowned with thorns. The thorns bit into his brow, causing red drops of blood to flow. No color is more associated with Christmas than red, the color of Good Friday. This symbolism is consistent with scripture: "By the Lord's stripes we are healed." So, the holly is green, a color associated with life and hope—reminding us of the birth of the Savior—and the berries are red—reminding us of how the gift of eternal life has been won for us through the blood of Christ. I don't think it's easy to find holly wreathes, but then, I've never looked for one! I do know that a round metal wire holder and plastic holly branches can be purchased at Michael's. That would do the trick. Then remember: three purple and one pink candle. And, don't forget to place the Advent calendar on the front of the refrigerator. 2. Use an Advent calendar. Hang an advent calendar on the refrigerator door beginning on December 1st. Each morning, before everyone scatters for the day, have one member of the family open one door and read the scripture verse or describe the biblical scene behind the door. This is a great way for family members to keep focused on the coming of Christ for the rest of the day. 3. Make a Jesse tree. The Jesse tree is the traditional way that Catholics recall Jesus' heritage, coming from the line of King David, the son of Jesse. Have members of the family make a symbol for each day of Advent that marks an important moment in Israel's history (e.g., Noah's ark, Jacob's ladder, Moses' stone tablets, David's harp). Then, each evening before everyone goes to bed, gather the family around the Jesse tree, have the family member explain the symbol, and hang it on the tree. 4. Celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas on December 6th. One way to "put Christ back into Christmas" is to reclaim the faith-filled life of heroic virtue revealed in the great Christian saint, St. Nicholas of Myra. Besides sharing simple gifts with family members, like placing candy in shoes that have been left outside of the bedroom door, share some time with people who are alone, in the hospital, convalescing, etc. 5. Celebrate God's mercy. Advent is a particularly fitting time for every member of the family to welcome the light of God's forgiveness into the dark places of family life. Gather the family together and go to church to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance together. Then, go out for pizza to celebrate God's mercy and a new beginning free from sin. By participating in these five practical activities to prepare for Christmas day, Catholic families will not only have contemplated their need for God and God's self-revelation through salvation history. In addition, they will have experienced God present and active in their family's life. Then, on Christmas day, when family members greet one another by saying, "Merry Christmas," they all will truly be prepared to celebrate the Mass wherein Christ will strengthen and nourish them with his body and blood to bring Christ to the world.
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HOMILY
