Saturday, November 28, 2020

Come Home For The Holy Day!

First Sunday of Advent

Year B

Isaiah 63:16, 17, 19; 64:2-7; Psalm 80; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37

O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.
Isaiah 64:7

Have you had the experience of watching a potter make a clay vessel?  It’s fascinating.  I’m amazed at the wisdom and knowledge of the potter who knows exactly what is needed to make the vessel as he chooses.  This is the image that is before us today in Isaiah’s message.  The ways of a potter would have been common experience amongst the people of his day.  It is this image the Church has chosen to use to usher in the beginning of this Church Year as we begin the holy season of Advent.

Isaiah not only pictures God as the potter, but also as our father.  With this tender image he reminds us that we are His handiwork. 

In the beginning God made man of the dust of the ground.  One might see in this the clay which is spoken of by Isaiah.  He formed man into His own image and likeness.  Then He did the same with woman, making her in many ways the same as man, and yet different.  Together, they reflect the apex of God’s creation.  God made them beautiful and holy.  They were, in every respect, vessels of honor to God.

But sin marred the original design, and our Father, the potter, was in need of re-working the clay to be once again what He intended.  This He did by sending His own Son who took on flesh and became everything the potter had in mind. 

Jesus taught us that through faith in Him and Baptism we could become again what we were intended to be- the children of God.  But the enemy of our souls who brought the defect into the clay through the temptation that leads to sin does not rest.  He is ever twisting the truth so that the way of salvation is obscured.  So it is that many who profess faith and godliness remain other than what God intends.

We must remember that a Christian is not a good person who is trying to become better.  A Christian is a dead person who has been brought back to life!  We are not merely revised, we are revived.  We are not refined, we are remade, and reborn.  The difference is vast. 

Those trying to be better are largely doing so in their own strength, according to their own understanding, and in a way that is agreeable to them.  They are largely responsible for their own achievements and so are tempted to pride to take the credit for what they become.  In some cases they may couch this in religious language but at their core they are self-congratulatory.

The true Christian has had an experience whereby he comes to understand that he is nothing apart from God.  Recognizing his complete lostness and inability to do anything about it, he calls

 

out to God in desperation for His mercy.  Receiving freely the grace of God, he begins to put that grace into action through virtue and good works.  He takes no credit for any of this for he knows that the grace belongs to God and it is solely because of this grace that he is who he is.  He is humbled and thankful.  He gives all the glory to God.

This is probably easier to see in the adult convert than in one who was baptized in infancy and has grown up as a child of the Church.  But it’s still the same in principle.  Such a one recognizes what they would have been apart from God’s grace- dead in sin- and they give thanks for the divine life that was imparted to them through the sacraments and the teaching of the Church.  In this way they are able to consciously enter into a vibrant and deep relationship with God.

This raises a critical point.  Christ intended that we would come to Him through His holy, catholic, Church.  The Church possesses the complete and full teaching given by our Lord and His apostles.  She has the authority that comes from them as well.  Through her come the sacraments which impart divine grace, enabling us to live holy.  Her traditions guide us, her saints inspire and pray for us, her treasures enrich us, and her life sustains us.  She is our mother [Galatian 4:26].  As St. Cyprian famously stated, “How can he have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his Mother?”

It is for these reasons that we invite all to begin this season of Advent by taking a new look at the Catholic Church.  Whatever your thoughts or experiences have been, take another look. 

There are human failings in the Church, as there are anywhere.  But there is also divine life here.  God has chosen imperfect vessels to perfect imperfect vessels.  The means the potter uses to rework the clay is in the hands of earthen vessels themselves [2 Corinthians 4:7].  Through our interaction with each other, the potter is perfecting us.  He is making us to be truly holy.

This brings us to Advent.  The world has already forged ahead to Christmas.  But just as there is no Easter without Lent; there is no resurrection without the cross, so there is no Christmas without Advent; no birth without labor.  Let me encourage you to turn a deaf ear to the allure of a painless transition to Christmas.  It’s no mere secular holiday.  It is, instead a Holy Day.  And that requires preparation.

Advent has become the time for us to prepare for our festivities.  We buy gifts, we bake cookies, and we send Christmas cards.  This is fine in its place.  But the preparation that is most necessary is that of our hearts.  Are our hearts ready to receive Christ at Christmas?  Each year, our Lord has prepared special blessings for us.  But we will only be able to receive them if we are prepared.  Don’t get ahead of things.  Take your time.  Slow down.  Listen attentively to the tiny voice inside that beckons you to draw near and prepare for all that God has intended for you.

It’s popular to think of being home for the holidays.  But we want to invite you to come home to the Church for the Holy Day.  Listen to Isaiah trumpet his message afresh.  Our Father is intent on lovingly shaping each one of us for all that He intended us to be.  To aid and guide us, He has provided His Church- the Catholic Church.  Take a look inside.  Join us as we prepare for the great feast of Christmas.  Come home, and be blessed!

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