HOMILY FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B. 29.11.2020.
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| Advent Wreath |
CHRIST OUR HOPE OF SALVATION
Today we
celebrate the first Sunday of advent, which begins a new liturgical calendar,
year B and the weekday readings from year I. Advent has its origin from the Latin
word Adventus, meaning “Coming,”
which is a translation of the Greek word parousia.
It is a season of preparation for
the celebration of God’s incarnation, that is, Christmas. This season, we
patiently and vigilantly wait for the coming of Christ. His coming in three
dimension: in incarnation, historically Christ took flesh and dwelt among us;
His coming in sacrament, He constantly comes to us sacramentally; and His
coming in majesty, which expresses the second coming of Christ.
This season of
advent comes with a new look in the Church’s liturgy. The liturgical colour is
changed to purple or violet and the Advent Wreath, which is a circle of
evergreen branches with four candles on it, is placed in a position visible for
all to see. The circular shape of the Wreath that has no beginning nor end symbolizes
eternity of God, who has no beginning nor end. It represents the immortality of
the soul and everlasting life we find in Jesus Christ. Each Sunday, one of the
candles is lit either before or at the beginning of the mass. Practically we
have four Sundays/weeks in advent and each candle symbolically represent each
week.
The first candle
symbolizes hope, otherwise known as the prophecy candle, the prophets of the
Old Testament full of hope that the Messiah will eventually come. The second
candle symbolizes love, also known as the Bethlehem candle, a reminder of Mary
and Joseph’s Journey to Bethlehem; the third candle is shepherd candle, pink/rose
in colour which symbolizes joy; and the fourth Sunday is the Angel’s Candle,
which reminds us of the Angel’s message of peace on earth and to men of
goodwill. This is evident in the Angel’s visit to Mary, as we will see in the
Gospel of the fourth Sunday. However, some Advent Wreaths include a fifth
candle called Christ’s candle, which is lit at Christmas Eve or Christmas day.
We see the
symbol of hope in the first Advent candle expressed in the liturgy of today. The
first reading from trito/third Isaiah
begins by expressing the greatness of God: “You,
O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from old is your name…” It went further to make a prayer of petitions
saying, “Return for the sake of your
servant, the tribes of your heritage. O that you will tear the heavens and come
down…” This petition was a prayer that brought hope to the people of God. Isaiah
has earlier demanded that, “God will not
keep silent for Zion’s sake, he will not rest until her vindication shines out
like brightness, and her salvation like a burning torch” (Is 62:1). The hope of our salvation, which lies in
Christ, becomes paramount. So, when Isaiah ask God to tear the heavens and come
down, he expect God to come quickly to save his people from poverty, hunger in
the city, famine in the plain, the sick that goes unattended... This is
what we express in the Lord’s prayer, “Thy Kingdom come…” which is primarily
the final coming of the reign of God through Christ” (CCC. 2818). The Kingdom
of God could mean Christ himself, whom we daily desire to come, and whose
coming we wish to be manifested quickly to us (CCC 2816). Is what St. Paul
calls in Aramaic: Maranatha, meaning “Come Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 16:22),” who is
our hope of salvation and the glim of hope that the world awaits in darkness a
mighty burst of light, the prince of peace.
The second
reading reminds us of the two ways we wait for Christ within this season. The season
is divided in two part: the first Sunday of Advent to 16th of December, which
emphasizes on the second coming of Christ, that is, the parousia. While 17th to 24th December emphasizes on the coming of
the Messiah in the flesh, the incarnation. In this reading, St. Paul reminds us as we wait for the
joyful hope of the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ, let us live in the
Spirit that was given to us in Christ Jesus. This implies that the gift of the Holy Spirit we have received is what
will strengthen us and help us in our preparation for Christ’s coming (The parousia). Also, the Spirit will
teach us the best way to welcome the infant Jesus, not to be carried away by
worldly or material preparations for Christmas at the detriments of our souls,
but to prayerfully and sacramentally prepare ourselves to welcome Christ.
Christ in the
Gospel, emphatically dwells on our preparation on His second coming when he
said to his disciples, “Take heed, watch
and pray; for you do not know when the time will come…” Again, he said, “Watch therefore – for you do not know when
the master of the house will come…” Finally, he said, “What I say to you I say to all: Watch.” We observe the emphasis to ‘watch’,
because anyone who watches is not caught by surprise. It is a call to be active Christians, not just passive ones so that He does
not find us asleep when he comes. Since we do not know when He is coming, we
have to be vigilant and ready at all times.
The vigilance called
by Christ in the Gospel and St. Paul in the second reading is so intense that the
best option we have is to return to God our Father and Redeemer, who is ready
to show mercy to all enslaved by sin as we have seen in the first reading. Therefore,
we can say like the psalmist, “O God,
bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.” This is
the best preparation for Christmas we can think of, preparing our heart to
welcome Christ. When we think of the decorations and lightening we can give to
our homes, streets and environments for this Christmas, we can go deeper by
decorating and lighting up our hearts with the gift of the Holy Spirit so that
Christ can come quickly and dwell therein. May Christ come quickly in our
hearts before the danger at the door overtakes us through Christ our Lord.
Amen! Maranatha!
Happy Sunday!
Fr. Ken Dogbo,
OSJ
👍
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