Last
week, with the Mass of Christ the King, the liturgical year came to a close. The
Gospel brought us to the Final Judgment, and beyond that there is nothing more
to celebrate; it’s the end of the road for human history on earth. The sheep
are in heaven with the Lord and the goats are … elsewhere.
And
so the Church takes us back to the beginning – to that time when humanity was
waiting for the Redeemer to come. That time we call Advent.
Now,
before we move on, let us quickly recall what the Liturgical Year is all about.
As I said, it begins with Advent and proceeds, in four weeks, through to
Christmas. Then, after a few weeks of Ordinary time, (that’s when the priest
wears green vestments), we move on to Lent and Easter. This is followed by more
Ordinary Time until we hit the last Sunday of the year in which we celebrate
Christ, the King of the Universe. And then we begin again with Advent, just as
we are doing today.
But
now let me explain one important detail. To those who go to Sunday Mass week
in week out, nothing but routine, without really knowing or caring what
they are doing, the Liturgical Cycle is a circle. Round and round it goes from
Advent to Advent without really changing anything.
For
those Catholics who live the Faith, and therefore have some understanding of
what they are doing, the Liturgical Cycle is a spiral – a spiral whose circular motion
lifts them into the heavens. This is a vastly different thing from just going mindlessly around in circles.
So,
having come to the end of history last week, we go back to the beginning of
history this week, the first week of Advent.
Today
the liturgy brings us back to that time of waiting which began the moment Adam
and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. At that instant all their relationships
were fractured – their relationship with each other, with God, with themselves
and with nature. They found themselves in the state of mortal sin, totally
alienated from God and, tragically, they had no way to repair the damage.
Today, we the Church of 2020, look forward with the ancient tribes of Israel, to the birth of the Promised One, the Saviour who
would redeem us from our folly. Over the course of the centuries the
prophets and holy men traced out his profile – and the People waited – and prayed:
Why, Lord, leave us to stray from your
ways and harden our hearts against fearing you? Return, for the sake of your
servants, the tribes of your inheritance.
This is a wonderful prayer. Isaiah begged the Lord to return so that the
people would not stray and harden their hearts against fearing him. And in a
similar way Christians today are begging the Lord to come and correct the
conscience of the world so that it may return to him and find peace.
Isaiah captures the longing of us all with his impassioned
plea: Oh, that you would tear the heavens
open and come down!
This is the cry of the Church for the next four weeks. Oh, that you would tear the heavens open
and come down!
The warning of the Gospel, made over and over is to “Be on your guard,
stay awake," because the One you long for is on his way. We need to be awake to the opportunity God gives us to prepare
for his coming.
Today we have opened the door of Advent. As we take our first step through that doorway let our prayer be that of the Responsorial Psalm: Lord, make us turn to you....
