By Fr. Antony Christy, SDB–
Second Sunday in Advent: 9th December, 2018
Baruch 5: 1-9; Philippians 1: 4-6,8-11; Luke 3: 1-6
‘PREPARE’ is the call that dominates this season! Every time a natural or social disaster pays us a visit, there is a widespread feeling that we were not prepared enough for it in spite of the warnings we have had. Almost immediately, discussions and finger-pointing fills all news channels and daily pages.
The second reading and the Gospel today invite us to prepare, while the first reading and the Gospel tell us how to prepare! Yes, we are preparing to celebrate the coming of the Lord, and we are preparing for the coming of the Lord too, that is the coming of the Reign of God… but what does this preparing truly mean and what is its real end!
Preparing: I remember as young lads, just out of our secondary schooling but in the seminary, once we had a serious discussion (at least we thought it was serious!). It was this: On the 15th of August we would stage every year a three-act play and that would involve at least two months of preparation, at the end of which we would stage the two- hour play and everything would end with it.
The discussion was that we found it disproportionate that we “waste” two months on something that would just be done and dusted in just two hours: the memorising of the script, the rehearsals, the making of the scenes, the gathering of the props, the publicity, and everything, just for two hours of a show? And as if we were more serious than our formators in using our time well, we argued that it was a waste of time and a fruitless labour! It is not the argument that I remember as much as the lovely explanation given by our formators.
It is not about the play that your are preparing for, the very preparation is a drama that you are learning from! I think of this every time I feel a process gets tedious. We are preparing too: not to celebrate that day, December 25th and forget about it and keep busying ourselves with the next act in the play. This preparation has to become an experience in itself.
The Moment: Whatever we may say, all preparation is towards a moment and it is the depth of that moment that justifies the amount of preparation that goes into it. This is natural. And we are preparing for a moment; not just any moment but a moment of truth. A moment that would redefine entire history and renew every bit of the reality. If we mean preparing is getting ready in advance for the sake of facing a situation, then it involves imagining what that situation is going to be, understanding the various elements that would be involved and habituating oneself towards those situations already now… in short, it is living that moment already now!
The Lord has instructed us time and again, to be prepared for the coming of the Lord in glory. The ‘Coming’ is going to be glorious and demanding too… because we would have to render an account for everything that we were given with and the way we have responded to it.
Imagine someone you respect much, is about to visit your personal room: what would you do? You would be pushing dust under the carpet, stuffing clothes into the closet, dumping books into our cupboards and make the room look presentable. But this is not the preparing that we are called to today.
Preparing cannot be a cosmetic alteration that stays just skin deep. It is a fundamental transformation because what we are preparing towards is not just a passing event or a momentary experience, it is the ultimate end, the climax towards which everything is going, the Reign which everyone and every being is longing for. Hence it is a moment, but a moment of truth that is going to change every other moment that would follow!
Living the moment in love: To prepare, in Reign-terminology would be, to live the moment here and now… that is the task that St. Paul entrusts to himself and to us. The only preparation that is good enough for the coming of the Lord or the only preparation that can truly lead us towards the coming of the Reign of God, is beginning to live the Reign right here and already now.
And that is done by growing in true love… love which means giving and not getting, reaching out and not receiving, levelling and not proving oneself; it is straightening and not manipulating, simplifying and not complicating, feeling for and with the other and not feigning sorrow; it is making life better for the other and not making a life out of the other. True love is a forgetfulness… a forgetfulness of harm done or good left undone, a forgetfulness of the struggles one has gone through while coming to face with the present struggles of another, a forgetfulness that does not so much think of repaying as of responding to the present need of a person.
After all the reflection, what do you think? To prepare – does it not mean, to live the moment in anticipation? Let us heed to the Word. Let us prepare…prepare ourselves for that moment of truth, a moment when our whole world will be transformed in true love. Let us keep growing into God’s people, towards being signs of God’s Reign here on earth, living the moment, here and now, in love!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.