Dear St. Rita Families,

            Christmas is upon us! The overlay of the beginning of the New (Liturgical) Year with Advent and the coming of Christ over the end of the calendar year can give you either a feeling of déjà vu (didn’t we just do this?) or of burnout (too much celebrating) or of confusion (do I think about the beginning or the end?). For the Christian, though, there is another option, too. The Advent of Jesus Christ and His breaking into the world is actually the beginning of the end!

            I don’t mean to sound ominous. I know there are mysterious drones and global conflicts and intense political and social upheavals. Those things, however, are only tangentially related to what I am getting at. The real thing is the definitive revelation of the plan of God. We can’t ever forget that it was God who created this world, with us and with redemption in mind. So, when God breaks into it – and even that phrase is misleading – it behooves us to pay especial attention. You see, God doesn’t have to break into the world. He is sustaining it at every moment and is present to all of creation at all times in a way that is unfathomable to us. It is more to the point to speak of God’s revelation to us as a most natural aspect of our earthly existence. It is a waypoint, a guide, a map, a blueprint, and also a reminder of His presence and love.

            So, when we speak of Advent and Christmas as the beginning of the end, we mean to say that God has said to us everything He intends to say. There isn’t any other universal revelation that we await. There isn’t any other new thing that God will do. There is only the consummation of what He has already indicated. It is therefore appropriate to say that we’ve been living in the end times for some time now…since Pentecost! Thus, Advent and the coming of Christ are the beginning of the end, and we could even say the beginning and the end. 

             Ends, however, do not have to be so terrible. Some things we want to end (like injustice and sin). Others indicate a continuation of some sort – “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end,” crooned Dan Wilson of Semisonic. Still others suggest completion of purpose, as in the phrase, “The ends do not justify the means.” This last meaning is expressed nicely in the word “consummation”.

            At the end of His life, Our Lord uses that word. The familiar phrase, “It is finished,” uttered by Our Lord on the Cross, is better translated, “It is consummated.” His whole earthly existence was coming to its fulfillment, not just its end. And now, while His manner of presence to us is different than it was before, He certainly still exists! Precisely through the consummation that took place on the Cross, Christ’s un-ending life is continuously bestowed upon those who believe, repent, and receive Him. For us, it has meant a new beginning and likewise the means by which we are able to reach our end – Life that has no end.

             So, as the calendar year 2024 comes to an end, may it be a reminder to us and to all Christians that our old life – the life of sin – has also come to an end, a definitive end. And may the coming of Christ at Christmas be a reminder that the New Life which He was won for us has no end, but only consummation, when we are with God in Heaven forever, at last!

Merry (almost) Christmas, and Happy (almost) New Year!

In Christ,

Fr. Christensen