Pastor's Corner
December 18, 2016 - Advent IV
Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles.
Romans 1:5
In his homily on the First Sunday of Advent 2006, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI repeated the idea of St. Bernard of Clairvaux when he spoke of a third, or “intermediate” coming of Jesus Christ between his first coming in Bethlehem and his final advent at the end of time. This intermediate advent is a hidden one, in the soul of every believer, which serves as a bridge between the other two.
But this silent slipping into the human heart is not something that happens automatically or unintentionally. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” Jesus does not force his entry. He initiates the encounter, and then waits patiently for the human heart to open a crack so he may enter.
We know that on Christmas Eve we will welcome many visitors who do not regularly come to church. We can help them hear Jesus knocking in two concrete ways. First, we can begin praying for them now. Pray that they re-evaluate their time and their life and consider giving Jesus more of both. We can pray for their conversion, as well as our own - and this connects to the second thing we can do. We can take seriously our role as evangelizers, as heralds, like John the Baptist, preparing a way for the Lord. We can choose to welcome the unfamiliar person, smile at the stranger, extend a hand of friendship to the person squeezed into the pew next to us. We can help them find their way through the hymnal, and hand them a Mass card with the prayers if they seem not to be familiar with them.
We can be joyful – as we ought to be as we gather together as individuals whose own worth has been made invaluable by God’s own sharing in our humanity.