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What is Advent? It is a Latin word which means “coming.” In ancient times the people put out purple banners to anticipate the visit of their king. (This purple chasuble is not because I am a Ravens fan.) One of the oldest prayers of the Church was “maranatha.” It is Aramaic for “come Lord.”
Advent asks us to remember the mystery of His incarnation 2,000 years ago. He was always God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. But He stripped Himself of glory to take on our humanity to raise us to His divinity. We look forward to the end of time when He will come again. We look within to our hearts to discover that God is with us.
When things are comfortable we think Jesus is with us. When things get turbulent we have lost Him just like the disciples in the boat. In today’s gospel this mentality gets turned upside down. When powers are shaken, the skies rearranged, nations disturbed – then we know “God is with us.”
Jesus came to us in His first Advent to teach us our true purpose in life, how to find happiness, and how to live life in abundance.
The world says if you want “your true purpose, to be happy, to live life,” you have to have wealth, live in the right zip code, have the right initials behind your name, and have the “right” friends. If you gain all this, then try to be holy before you die! Jesus turns this upside down. He came to teach us that our true purpose is to be holy. Did you hear it in the second reading and in the psalm? If you do this first, then the other things will not matter.
What is the crisis today that keeps us from happiness and peace; that keeps us from our true purpose in life; that keeps us from God? Thought determines action. Ideas shape our lives. What are three strong philosophies that are pulling us away from our true purpose in life?
Individualism
It is based on an ultimate concern for self. “What’s in it for me?” It is a dominant trend governing the decision-making process for our cultural belief system. Individualism always weakens the community and causes the whole to suffer. Under the pressure and guidance of a number of special interest groups that represent only a fraction of society at large, the rights of the individual have been gradually elevated and ultimately placed above the rights of society as a whole.
In California a court banned public schools from using “under God” when saying the Pledge of Allegiance. The rights of the individual at all costs, with no regard for right and wrong. At the same time everything has been done to weaken the rights of the Church, the State, and authority of any type. It is done under the delusion of false freedom. This is false notion that freedom is the opportunity to do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want without the interference of any other person or party. This is not freedom. It is license.
The fruits of individualism are: greed, selfishness, and exploitation.
Hedonism
This places pleasure as the ultimate goal and aim of life. “If it feels good, do it!” Whenever Hedonism has emerged as a dominant “practical philosophy” it has always produced men and women who are lazy, lustful, and gluttonous. It is not an expression of freedom but a passport to the enslavement of a thousand addictions. It the end it does not produce pleasure, but despair.
Minimalism
“What is the least I can do: and still keep my job; and still get reasonable grades in school; and still keep my marriage alive; and still keep physically fit; and still get to heaven?”
Despite the turbulence of all nature and nations, in Advent we discover that redemption is at hand. What is our true purpose in this life? It is the universal call to holiness. What is holiness and who is holy?
Holiness is compatible with every state in life. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses: some were married with many children, some single, some were priests, monks or nuns. Holiness brings us to life. It does not dampen our emotions, but refines our human abilities. The saints all had a richer more abundant experience of life. They knew love more deeply than most people can imagine. Even in the midst of suffering they had peace which was independent of the happenings and circumstances around them.
What is holiness? On Thanksgiving Day I reminded you in my homily that the soul needs the virtues of humility and love before the virtue of gratitude
can find a home there. If these virtues are not there, then children cannot be grateful for their parents and spouses will not be grateful for each other.
This Advent, study the virtues of faith, hope, and love. Study the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, especially in contrast to this world of self-indulgence.