Homily
for First Sunday of Advent
November
29, 2020
The
End of the Story
Every good story has a beginning, a
middle, and an end. I guess that’s why they make so many trilogies, like Lord
of the Rings or Star Wars.
The story in which we live, however,
is grander, more magnificent, and more epic than anything George Lucas or JRR
Tolkien could concoct. We live in a story known as Salvation History –
the story of the unfolding plan of God through human history. And like all good
stories, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
The beginning of this story starts
out beautifully: humanity in a state of perfect happiness in the Garden. Only
love, joy, and peace was ever known. But very soon, tragedy struck – we fell
into sin, strayed from the Lord, and brought innumerable evils upon the human
race.
It is this first part of the story
that we hear about in the first reading. There is such a passion and anguish in
these words from Isaiah: “Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and
harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all
of us have become like unclean people, all our good deeds are like polluted
rags; we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the
wind.” From the ends of the earth, humanity cries out: O God, come and save us!
We have all fallen astray. When we consider all the evil throughout the
centuries: the Holocausts, the genocides, the violence, the lust, the pride,
the greed – it seems overwhelming.
But then comes the climax of the
story: God taking flesh and becoming one of us. When all hope was lost, when
mankind had began to question if God was even there, He slipped quietly into
the world on a rescue mission behind enemy lines, and took our punishment upon
Himself for our reconciliation. Hope began to spring anew from the nails on the
Cross. As Pure Life lay dying, He purchased Life for us.
But the story doesn’t end there. The
Cross was only the middle of the story. Although Christ defeated evil on the
Cross, evil still exists in the hearts of men. There needs to be a final
answer. Jesus needs to come in glory to make His Victory known throughout the
world.
And thus, Jesus speaks in today’s
Gospel about His Second Coming. Many people think that Advent is a time to wait
for Christ’s birth. But He was already born – how can we wait for an
event that already happened in history? No, Advent looks forward in eager
anticipation of Christ’s Second Coming.
What will that coming look like? We
know that when He comes again, it won’t be as a humble baby. Rather, He will
come as a glorious King, the Judge of Heaven and Earth, and He will destroy sin
and death forever. He will create a new heaven and earth (by “heaven” it means
the sky, not the afterlife). This new earth will have no more sorrow or pain.
No evil person or harmful thing will live in this new paradise where God will
dwell with His people.
When will that coming be? That is a
very good question. It could very well be soon. Right now we are historically
as far from Jesus as Abraham was to Jesus (Abraham lived approximately 2000
BC). St. Irenaeus of Lyon, an early Church father, said that the seven days of
creation were a symbol of seven thousand-year periods, and if you look at the
Bible literally, Adam and Eve were created approximately 4,000 BC – which would
mean that we were beginning the “seventh day” – the seventh millennium since
the creation of the world. This “seventh day” is the Sabbath – the day of rest,
peace, and union with God. So Irenaeus believed that Christ’s second coming
would be right around now.
Jesus said to St. Faustina, “You
will prepare the world for My Second Coming” – and that was in 1931. We know
that there needs to be a great falling-away of Faith before Christ comes again
– and we see that in the world today, as it becomes increasingly secularized.
We certainly have our share of natural disasters and illnesses, which Our Lord and
other saints like St. Vincent Ferrer predicted would precede the Final Coming.
The increase of sin, globalization, and a return of Communist ideologies are
other factors that indicate the time may be near.
Lest you think this is some radical,
fringe belief, listen to what the Catechism says about this: “Before Christ's
second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the
faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth
will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious
deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of
apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the
Antichrist, a pseudo-messiah by which man glorifies himself in place of God.”
(CCC 675) Powerful words – ones that look a lot like today’s headlines.
So what does that mean for us?
Should we sell everything we have and head for the hills, awaiting the Second
Coming? No, I do not think we should. Rather, we should do as Jesus says:
“Watch!” We should be ready, at every moment, to welcome Christ as our
triumphant King. If He came later this afternoon, would you run to meet Him
with eager expectation, joy, and arms wide open? Or would you run in the
opposite direction, away from Him, ashamed of your sins, trying to hide from
Him?
Regardless of when He returns in
glory, we all must be prepared for when we personally meet Him as King
at the hour of our death. A few saints had the great grace of knowing exactly
when they would die, such as St. Benedict or Bl. Carlo Acutis. But for most of
us, that day remains a mystery – hence, the need to be prepared. Run to
Confession, begin praying as if this day was your last. Because some day it will
be your last, and on that day we must meet Christ. For those prepared, He will
be a merciful Savior. For those unprepared, He comes as judge.
My friends, we need not fear that
day – if we are prepared. This Advent, what do you need to do to be prepared to
meet Christ when He comes again in glory?
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