Seeing Daylight

- 1st Sunday of Advent -

By Fr. Bob Willliams, CSB

Jesus spoke to his disciples about his return in glory. "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.

People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

''Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these thing that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." - Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

For over two thousand years Christians have read and meditated on these words and if they understood them merely in the limited sense of looking to Christ's second coming, they could only know a feeling of disappointment. Nor is there now any reason to suppose seriously that the ''end is near '' despite the free warnings that are more frequent these days than in some periods of the past. No one knows when that time will be.

The liturgy uses these words in a context of watching and waiting for the coming of Christ the Saviour. These words should speak to each of our hearts in that same context. We look to the sun, the moon and the stars for light. Genesis tells how God made them, the greater one to govern the day and the lesser one to govern the night and he made the stars...and he set them in the dome of the sky to separate the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1: 14)

Signs which appear in the source of light in one's life can be an indication of an invitation to look and see if God wants to draw closer and to enter one's life in a new, deeper way, so as to let one expenence more of his love and life-giving presence. Life goes on smoothly for months, even years. Everything seems to be all right with the relationship one has with God. And then gradually or suddenly it becomes difficult to distinguish the light from the darkness. The imagery of the grain of wheat falling to the earth takes on new meaning. The darkness and the loneliness are real and oppressive. It is a time of death but only to rise to new life and light and warmth.

LOSING THE SENSE OF DIRECTION

Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years, Genesis says that without the sun, moon, and stars one's sense of direction and of seasons is gone. No one knows east from west. No one knows when to plant for the harvest. Order in the succession of days and years disappears and the result is chaos. There is no fixed star to guide a pilgrim on his journey through the night.

Signs, disturbances in the sun, moon, stars would surely usher in a period of disorientation into the life of a country or an individual. And it happens. Almost any period of history provides striking confirmation, and the present one more than most. Political ideologies rack the East and the West. New seats or religions spring up. Centuries old religions reach out for new power and areas of influence. Individuals lose confidence in the religious guides and traditions that served them in the past. Their moral and spiritual principles seem to be no longer a source of direction for their lives.

When these things happen some people will faint in anticipation of what is coming upon the earth. This is not the reaction that Christ indicates to his followers. Rather, this is the moment in which they will glimpse him coming in the heavens and he will come with power to guide and rule. Consequently at this moment Christians are to hold their heads high, to look up to their God, because your redemption is close at hand. It is always close.

DO WE DISTINGUISH BETWEEN DARKNESS AND LIGHT

It is during the quiet and peace of Advent that we try to experience in the depth of our heart just where we have been failing to distinguish between darkness and light. We try to be aware of the lack of orientation in our lives. It is there. The saints know it best of all. They might refer to it as recognizing their need for redemption, their need for a Saviour. After all, he can help only those who have need of him.

This awareness is not born in a spirit of fear at what is coming upon us. It is not nourished by apprehension that the powers of heaven are being shaken. It is an awareness thriving on the trusting conviction that power belongs to the Son of Man who comes with the gentleness of a new-born child. This day, every day, a Saviour is born to you. It is an awareness which matures as the Christian stands tall, head lifted up to the heavens where a new star governs the night and determines the times and seasons, pointing to the Lord of history and Lord of every human heart. The God of all the world, the one who calls each of the stars by name, has sent his only Son to be the new light of the world. Redemption is very close.

KEEP A LIGHT HEART

Then our Lord becomes very practical in his advice about how his followers are to read to this mystery of living in a world of expectation and waiting. Keep a light heart, he urges. Well, he actually, says not to let your heart grow heavy. And the things that make it heavy are dissipation, drunkenness, and anxiety about living.

Let us pause for a moment to expound on these expressions. Dissipation occurs when we fail to see the important things of life rather than concentrate on our own dignity as a child of God. By drunkenness we refer to any dulling of the senses, escaping from the wonderful world of the inner self where the Spirit of God provides delight and satisfaction Anxiety about living occurs when. despite the fact that God knows all of our needs and has promised to care for us, we hesitate to place ourselves in his care.

Be always watching, praying. This urging to constant prayer is often on Our Lord's lips, especially in the Gospel of Luke. It could well be argued that it is the primary duty of a Christian. This watching, waiting, praying, is not an escapist attitude. No one can take life more seriously than a follower of Christ for such a follower knows that the present life is intimately connected with eternal life. And that is the same grain of wheat lying in the earth which grows into the harvest. We pray not to escape but to be lighthearted, aware of our dignity, conscious that power belongs to Jesus who is coming. We pray to stand tall before the Son of Man.

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