November 27, 2005: Seeking Christ’s Truth

+ THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Today’s Readings: Isa. 63: 16–19 and 64: 2–7; Ps. 80; 1 Cor. 1: 3–9; Mk. 13: 33–37


Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent—the beginning of a brand new church year. For many of us, this means that Christmas is just four weeks away.

But Jesus’ first words today don’t seem to ring with the Christmas spirit. He says: Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.

So even though we know that Christ’s first coming—Christmas—is just around the corner, the time of his second coming on Judgment Day remains a great unknown. Spiritually, then, Advent is not just a season to get ready for the great Feast of the Nativity, but is also meant to be a time of serious personal recommitment and preparation for all eternity.

Maybe that’s why the Scripture readings today sound a little scary. Our Lord is trying to impress upon us that there is an urgency to get right with God while we still can.

And yet, despite the tough language, we must never, ever forget that God loves us deeply. Intensely. He made us. He adopted us as his very own children. He constantly floods us with grace, especially when we receive his Body and Blood, to draw us near so we can respond to his love and live in his love.

The Church New Year, just like the calendar New Year on January 1st, offers us a special opportunity to take stock of our lives. Hopefully, it’s also a time when we can resolve to take steps to fix the areas of our lives that need fixing. Each and every one of us could stand some of that.

And not only do we need to make resolutions, but we also have to take concrete steps to carry them out. Resolving to exercise more doesn’t mean buying a stationary bike and then hanging your dirty laundry on it. Wish it were that simple!

No, talk is cheap. It’s easy for a priest to stand at his pulpit and talk about the truths of our faith and the demands that God wants us to live by. It’s easy to say “Thou shalt not!” and list out all kinds of imperatives, even if sometimes it’s unpopular. And it’s also easy to retreat the other way and teach little more than “God loves you! Follow your conscience and have a nice day!”

As a Catholic priest, I am haunted by Jesus’ scathing put-down to the Pharisees when he told them: You load great burdens on people’s backs, but you don’t lift a finger to help them. I want to be Christ’s burden-lifter, not a burden-loader... so it’s my special job to show you the way.

I’m also deeply moved by the trials that St. Paul went through. Think about that awful list in Second Corinthians where he talks about being beaten, shipwrecked, robbed, betrayed, famished, and on and on and on—all of which he endured so he could bring the light of Jesus Christ to God’s people. Couldn’t Paul have settled in a nice, friendly community… maybe run a school for missionaries… be a little more discreet about what he said? Yes, I suppose he could have—but St. Paul knew in the core of his being that that was not the path that Jesus wanted for him. That means that sometimes the priest’s journey can be a little rocky.

Perhaps most of all, I am also quite moved by the amazingly kind and patient way that God treated people who did wrong—maybe even committed horrible sins—but whose hearts he knew were in the right place. He didn’t wipe out Adam and Eve and start over. King David committed adultery and murder, yet God forgave him. In fact, David is celebrated by Jews and Christians alike as a great and holy man. The woman caught in adultery was not stoned but forgiven. St. Peter betrayed our Lord just as surely as Judas, yet was forgiven, embraced and exalted by Jesus Christ. In the same way, Christ forgave and blessed thieves, tyrants, and just about every other kind of wrongdoer.

The point is, for those of us seeking to be watchful, amend our lives and get right with God, we are called to search for, recognize, embrace, and live the truth in our life. Jesus says: The truth will set you free.

Ah, truth. Truth is a funny thing. Sometimes it’s absolute. Something is blue or it’s yellow, no matter who’s doing the looking. Even if the thing is blue but it looks yellow to me, no amount of squinting or optical tricks will change the reality that it is indeed blue.

But some truths may be trickier… like when there are various alternatives to choose from that can be equally chosen. Should I be a doctor or should I be a lawyer? Should I get married or should I remain single or should I become a priest? The truth will result from my choice.

Often, it’s these very fundamental choices that give us difficulties—lots of time because our friends, our family, our personal values, our culture seem to put pressure on us to be something or act in a particular way… when, in fact, that may not be the best “truth” for us. If you wonder why people stray in their marriages… or have nervous breakdowns… or hit a “second childhood” and change many things in life… maybe that’s why.

Embracing our best truth may not be easy. I—like perhaps some of you—run away from some truths because to admit to them makes me vulnerable. I want to be strong—or rather, I want to appear strong. I want to be accepted and not rejected or abandoned. I want to be loved and needed, not laughed at or scorned or even hated. I want to be successful—whatever that means.

You can see that truth, even though Jesus promises that it will set us free, can be difficult to arrive it. It is definitely a process—a process that takes a lifetime.

The best way to start is to get on your knees and fight like a man. Prayer. God loves you and will guide you… but you’ve got to open yourself up to him. You’ve got to be able to recognize his voice and listen to him. That takes time, practice and commitment. If your only connection with God is Sunday mass, then you’ve got a stationary bike with dirty laundry hanging on the handlebars.

Be alert. Be watchful. Resolve here and now to revitalize your relationship with Jesus Christ and seek the special truths that will set you free.

God bless you. Come, Lord Jesus!