First Sunday of Advent
Homily
So this Father leaves home on a business trip, and puts his kids in charge.
And some of them, not expecting him to be back right away, break into the liquor cabinet, take his car for a spin, max out his credit cards, and just generally have a good old time for themselves. Then, when they get tired of all that, they fall asleep on the couch with the TV blaring.
Meanwhile, some of them, expecting his imminent return, decide to mow the lawn, pick up their rooms, trim the hedges, rake the leaves, wash the car, and rack up any number of good deeds. They are wide awake, looking down the road for the first sign of his returning car. Ready to run out to greet him, their arms brimming with good deeds.
And what will happen to the kids on the couch? And what will happen to the one who can’t wait for their Father to come home? That’s the story of Advent.
The Lord Jesus, born in a crib and crucified on a cross for our salvation, has ascended to his Father in heaven and left us in charge. And we, like the kids in the story, have two choices.
Seeking Self
We can say to ourselves, “Oh, he’s not coming back right away! And I’m not going to die for a long, long time, maybe even never!” So,let’s eat, drink and be merry! Make as much money as we can, become the biggest and most successful and most powerful on the block! Grab for all the gusto we can stuff into our oversized egos, for he who dies with the most toys wins!
And what will it be like for such people when their master returns?
They will be like the rich man who ignored the beggar Lazarus....consigned to far off Hades in anguish and torment forever, “where the worm knowns no death and the fire never goes out!” (Mark 9:46)
They will be like the damned at the last judgement, asking “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not take care of you? And he will reply: “what you did not do for them, you did not do for me...Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
In other words, we can choose to burn in hell.
Seeking Holiness
Or, we can say to ourselves, recalling the word of Jesus in today’s Gospel, “We don’t know when the time will come...any moment now, he could “rend the heavens and come down.” (To that point, by the way, twenty five people died in Dicoese of Worcester this week. And most were 93, 86, 94, or the like. But then there was the man is Ashburnham who was 31, or Kenny who was 65, or Charles who just tunred 57, and Peter at 55, or Rebecca at 48....or you....or me....we know not the day nor the hour. )
And with that in mind, we recall that the last thing he said before he ascended to the Father was “Go out to all the world and spread the good news....love one another as I have loved you...whatever you do for the least!”
So, from the time we get up and the time we go to bed, we can expect the master’s return and want more than anything for him to, in the words of Isaiah the Prophet, “meet us doing right.” With the urgency of an expectant people, we can seek only to love, to pray, to empty ourselves of selfishness and sin, ever-anxious to run out to meet him when he returns, ever-anxious to tell him about all the good things we’ve done in his name!
And what will it be like for such people when their master returns?
Such people will not dread the Lord’s return to judge the living and the dead. They will look forward to it! They will, as Saint Cyril once preached, “wait in hope of his second coming....[knowing that they will] repeat at his last coming [what was proclaimed at his first]: Running out with the angels to meet the Master [they] shall cry out in adoration, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'.”
Story
I think the first time I understood this essential optimism of the children of God, was in second grade. It was the day on which I got the only gold star on a paper that I ever received. I think I felt prouder that day than I have at any graduation or the reception of any reward or honor since.
I ran home to show my mother, who kissed me and put the blue lined yellow paper with the gold star on the refrigerator. But I ripped it down and ran out to the couch and knelt there with my nose against the window as I waited fro my Father to return from work. I watched and watched for him for what seemed like seventeen years! Then finally, I saw his old red truck coming down the dirt road and I heard the sound of it coming up the gravel driveway.
I ran out that screen door like a shot and, smiling from ear to ear, I waved my gold-starred paper before him to show him how wonderful his son really was! And you know what, he laughed and smiled and swooped me up into his arms and told me I was just as wonderful as I thought I was. And we went in and had a wonderful supper.
That’s why we celebrate the season of Advent, declaring to a world filled with such darkness and gloom and selfishness confidence of the children of God in our ability to perform righteous deeds and in the love of our merciful Savior. So when he comes, my dearly beloved bothers and sisters, you need not hide under the couch in fear that he will find out about this or that! No. When you hear that last trumpet, gather up all your righteous deeds and run out to meet him! “so that, gathered at his right hand, [you] may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.”
