Today’s Gospel Story (Matthew 24:37-44) alludes to Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time. The majority report sees it as a reminder that this can happen at any time, so it is a call to be ready. This is a future perspective. As usual, the minority report can hear these words in a completely different, personal, sense which looks from the present perspective. We are at the beginning of the Advent Season, a good time to repent, to change where I look for my happiness. It’s an invitation to reflect on my life now, look where I am headed on my journey now, and see how serious I am about it all now.
“Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” While Isaiah is referring to the future of Jerusalem, these words speak to me in my life right here and now, depending on how open I am to the Spirit. “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” Am I open to Abba’s light shining on my journey, maybe in very specific ways, showing me what I might not want to see, and move in a direction I might not like? Climbing the Lord’s mountains has long been a symbol of our collective and individual journey with and to Abba in our life.
“Show us Lord, your love; and grant us your salvation.” Salvation begins and happens now as we continue to grow into the fulness we are created for. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” Do I want to live in peace even in the midst of so much unpeacefulness around me. No simple thing. “Let us walk in the light of the Lord!”. I have the choice of whether or not I want to be open to the light. The Psalm says joyfully, ”We will go up to the house of the LORD.” The house of the Lord can also refer to the presence of Abba in me and my journey to be ever more aware of his real presence deep in me. Gradually I come to know both my power to choose how open I want to be, and the amazing Goodness in which all this is happening. And so, “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” as we begin our Advent Journey.
As the Gospel hints, there is a chaos in our lives, sometimes more than other times. The one constant in our life is Abba. While we say God is with us, it might be more accurate to say Abba is in us, and we are in Abba, simply because Abba is the source of all being, “in whom we live and move and have our being”. “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” Maybe an invitation to recognize Abba happening in my life, around me, and in me, even through me. While I am distinct from Abba, I am not in any way separate from Abba. Not two, not one.
Advent is the call to be alert, to know the signs of the times, to recognize I am exactly where I need to be open to the Spirit in my life, whatever is going on. It is also a call to be pro-active, to make time to take the call seriously and do what I need to know myself, my journey, my hopes. It’s positive, and starts from the perspective of gratitude. The Daily Examen is a big help here.
“So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” This is an invitation to an exciting and ever deepening awareness of Abba, Jesus, the Spirit, happening in our life in a fullness and depth we have not experienced, in other words, climbing the mountain of the Lord. The signs of the times show the dehumanizing presence and power of evil, hostility, discrimination against our LGBTQ sisters and brothers, abuse of the poor and vulnerable, terrible violence against the innocent and weak, the increasing irrelevance of truth. They also show the healing presence and power of good, as all over folks are reaching out to help in many different ways. So much of Abba’s loving us happens through us.The popular and easy way to deal with it all is to continue the usual angry judging, accusing, blaming, name calling. The hard way is to be open to the Spirit and ask for “enough light to see a divine sense in this mad world, and enough faith to follow the light”. This is called “the Lord’s Mountain” for a reason — it’s a difficult climb.
I am responsible for what I choose, not for what others choose. The “Light of the Lord” shows me what I am being asked to do, and this has to be my focus. It may or may not involve some sort of action. Jesus is asking me to live every day as if the Kingdom has already begun. This in itself brings a whole new way of looking at life and living. While we might have some insight to our own journey, we have perhaps only a slight awareness of the great Goodness of which we, along with all creation, are a part. It may move us toward a constant, even minute by minute, asking for the gift of openness, the grace of “what is”, the Sacrament of the Present Moment. Gradually we come to be aware of Goodness in the most dire of situations, and so our basic attitude moves into gratefulness.
In these days of increasing evil, violence, polarization, name-calling, overall meanness, I need something to keep me aware of this overall Goodness of which we are all a part. I know its is real, but these days it is hard to see or recognize. The prevailing violence and nastiness cannot dominate. I am strongly affected by the killing of the National Guard Soldier and the serious wounding of her Battle Buddy. Respectfuly, “two young kids in uniform, doing their duty”. I’ve seen too much of that, and it still hurts. The usual “thoughts and prayers” are not enough. “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come”. I believe the Son of Man is here, now, in all this, as he was in the beginning and when he walked among us. Not with what we call power or control, but with real power— love for every one of us on all sides of these nasty issues, top to bottom, as difficult as it may seem. What does it men to “be prepared”? Perhaps trying to get in touch with, to know, this love on a personal and experiential basis, and live it. “Show us Lord, your love; and grant us your salvation.” Wandering and wondering. Just sayin . . .