Fr. Simon's Letter - November 28, 2021

I write this column on the Friday before Thanksgiving (an early bulletin deadline), just four days after a three-week vacation in India. Driving home from the airport I could see that some Christmas decorations were already up. Welcome Home!

Advent and the season of Christmas come at the start of the year, not at the end, Jesus’ birth marks the beginning of a new era in human history. So, on this first Sunday in Advent, we celebrate the start of a new liturgical year. 

Today we set out on a time of prayer and preparation for the celebration of the greatest gift of all, God’s gift of his Son and, with it, the gift of new life for us all. What greater love for us could God have shown than to send his beloved only Son to be with us? He, the Son of God, came into the world as a tiny helpless baby, one like us in all things but sin, fully human while fully divine.

This time of Advent is a very deeply human time – it touches into our deepest human desires. One of the great cries of Advent is taken from the prophet Isaiah where at one point he cries out ‘O that you would tear the heavens open and come down’ (Isa. 64:1), the desire that God would unseal the heavens and come down and change the human world. Now in every human generation there is a desire for a better world. The world as it is, is in a mess in all kinds of ways. That’s not the full story. However, a large part of the story is the mess, and we want it to be better. If you look at the COVID-19 situation, the climate issues, refugees and the polarizations that have in a way isolated us from one another – the heavens do seem sealed and the human heart says ‘O that you would tear the heavens open and come down to change the world and make it better.’ But it is not just the world. It is also our lives.

There is a sense in all of us, that things could be or perhaps need to be better in our lives. The ‘How’ is a question each of us has to grapple with in our own lives. The difficulty is that we often look for the right thing in the wrong place. We look for a better world or for a better life in the wrong place or in the wrong way. At that point things get worse rather than better. So, two questions to ask ourselves during these Advent days is where is the right place and what is the right way to look for a better world and a better life. The answer that comes to us during these Advent days and especially at Christmas is Jesus. Jesus is God’s answer to the deeply human questions how can we make a better world, how can my life be better. Jesus is the fulfillment of every human desire. He is the answer to every human question, especially the deepest and most enduring questions of the human heart. And so, we focus on him during these Advent days and say, “Come Lord Jesus, tear the heavens open come down so that we may have a better world, a better life and that our deepest desires will not be disappointed.”

During this Advent season, I invite you to attend Mass, you will be in the right place. Taking time to pray, going to confession, gathering with family and sharing with others is the right way to fully be in the season of Advent. Do these, and you will be ready for the Lord who comes to you. 

Blessings!!