Dear St. Rita Parishioners,
Advent is upon us! No doubt you have been pondering the plethora of ways in which you will be preparing your family and yourself for the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord. The most widespread means seems to be some form of an Advent calendar, whether the goodie inside each box is a piece of chocolate or now, pretty much anything you fancy, including wine or bourbon! Part of me wonders whether any of these options really captures the spirit of Advent. It seems to me it should be more like vinegar or candy corn (gross) for the first 24 days (Fine. With the exception of December 8), and then on December 25, you finally can break out the good stuff!
The whole Advent season, as you know, as well as the Christmas Octave (and the 4 days remaining in the 12 leading up to Epiphany) has been subsumed into the unwieldy beast now called “the Holiday Season”, which is dominated by Coke commercials with polar bears, Mariah Carey, more or less nice feelings about stuff; decorations, parties with warm, consoling beverages and ugly sweaters, and, of course, shopping. (I don’t mean to disparage the ugly sweaters – they are one of the best parts of the season!) And, while many of these things aren’t inherently wrong (Mariah Carey is questionable), the whole trend is part of larger, devastating pattern in modern society, which is the removal of meaning from particular moments for the sake of an immediate, often commercialized, end. In other words, the world attempts to provide (force?) the joy of Christmas by means of shiny lights and great Black Friday deals, plopping it all down at once upon us, leaving no time or even opportunity to think about or prepare for what is really happening at Christmas.
Shiny lights and Black Friday deals are utterly meaningless, in themselves. But as soon as you see them, Christmas is here! Time to do Christmasy things, like don sweaters and Santa hats and drink hot cocoa. But…Christmas is NOT here – yet. Christmas is on December 25. Don’t let the great shopping deals scam you out of the peace, joy, and meaning of Advent!
But, Father, Advent is a time of anticipation – all the Christmasy stuff we do during Advent is anticipating Christmas! Right, like the Vigil Mass on Saturday evening, which counts for Sunday. The Vigil Mass is an anticipatory Mass, permitted by concession, understanding that it may not be possible to go to Mass on Sunday. The preference of the Church is still for Sunday Mass, however. Similarly, Advent is a time of anticipation, for sure, and we normally can’t escape some of the Christmasy things that happen before Christmas. But if we do them, they are by way of concession, because we know that as Christians our minds and hearts are focused on December 25 and the Christmas Season that follows.
Further, the logic of anticipation assumes that I am going to like whatever it is I am anticipating. This approach guts the coming of Christ of its meaning. For the record, I hope that everyone is ecstatic about the arrival of the Savior, but the Scripture paints a different picture (e.g. Herod’s slaughter of the Holy Innocents, cf. Mt 2:1-18). And if you try to proclaim the true meaning of Christmas now, you are shouted down with cries of inclusivity. The point here is not to disparage others, but to indicate that still not everyone is happy with the coming of Christ. And if people are not happy with the coming of Christ, just what is it that they are anticipating during Advent?
The truth is, the world associates Christmas not with Christ but with stuff. Most people in the world like creature comforts and material goods. It is ironic that the God of all creation, omnipotent, etc. etc., becomes man in a poor family in a backwater town in a backwater province, and we celebrate that coming with…materialism and comfort. What a letdown! It’s like the world is still rejecting Christ and His message 2000 years later. Oh wait.
This impoverished (see what I did there?) understanding of Christmas can only be enriched by your fidelity and mine to the Season of Advent. If I am to receive Christ as He is when He comes, I must have open arms. I can’t have open arms if they are filled with presents. He came, as the Scripture says, “to preach glad tidings to the poor” (Lk 4:18, quoting Is 61:1). But that doesn’t mean He came to make the poor rich in the material goods of this world. The Gospel is not the same as social justice. Christ came to be poor with the poor, to make them rich in the love of God and of neighbor, and to bring them salvation.
Therefore, in Advent we must be reminded of our poverty. We must rejoice in our poverty, because it is to the poor that Christ is coming! Poverty comes in many forms, and it shouldn’t take us too long to find it within. It is good to remember that Jesus is very close to those who are materially poor, especially as they strive humbly to seek Him and to navigate the powers of this world. If you are not poor in this world’s goods, then at least you can be poor in spirit (cf. Mt 5:3), so that the Christ Child can make His home in your heart.
If you struggle to find any sort of poverty within you, then this Advent is especially for you! The Scriptures speak of repentance and preparing the way of the Lord, turning away from sin and believing in Christ. The minute we put our hands to that plow we discover our utter poverty. We discover that without Christ, we can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:5). We discover that we are in desperate need of Him who conquered sin and death, and who comes to us joyfully, victoriously, and humbly, so that, in Him, we might be rich.
Whether we are embarking on this Advent journey intentionally for the first time or the 50th time, I encourage you to be faithful to this time of preparation. Empty yourself out again of all the things you have accumulated in your heart. Be reminded of your need for God and of the futility of the material goods of this world. Set your heart on Christmas – the coming of Christ – and determine to celebrate it in a way that the world will find confusing (Christmas music AFTER Christmas? Are you nuts?). Don’t give in to the meaningless, commercial enterprise that is “the Holiday Season”. Now is a time of preparation. Use it well.
In Christ,
Fr. Christensen