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Exploring the word

07 Dec 2014 - Second Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

ANTICIPATION IS ALWAYS half the fun of getting what we want. When holiday guests are on their way, we sweep through the house, plump up all the pillows, make up the guest room, buy flowers, decorate every window and corner until the environment is dripping with sparkle. And then we bake cookies, to give the house that warm, sweet holiday smell. We buy gifts and wrap them with care. The process of preparation for the great honored guests of the season is part of the joy of their actual arrival. What else explains the success of the year-round Christmas shop? The allure of such places is that they invite us to wander through the winter wonderland of expectation any time we want, enjoying a little Advent-of-the-heart whenever we need to rekindle that excitement. My 86-year-old mother will leave no surface of her Advent home without glitter, tinsel, wind-up toys, and sparkling lights. The “advent” she is preparing for are the grandchildren, who will oooh and aaah at the feast for the eyes she lays down with them in mind. And for whom are you and I preparing and longing and anticipating? Parents or children coming from long distances away? Friends who head back into the old neighborhood for a visit this season? Are we the ones traveling ourselves, the “advented ones”? The most devastating answer we can give to the question of who or what we anticipate in this season is this: No one. Nothing. There is only one wrong answer to the eager question mark this season raises, and this is it. To expect no one and nothing is the wrong answer to Advent. There are times in our lives when we can’t travel and no one is coming in for the holidays, and that’s to be expected. Money or illness or other responsibilities may prevent the arrivals we most desire but can’t have. Personal loss complicates every season, and none more than this one, when the whole world conspires to throw off its cares. To be in mourning seems discordant, and yet it is a hallowed obligation of our humanity. So you mourn, and those who love you prepare some sacred space for that. But can there ever be an advent when we wait for nothing, for no one? Even if we’re alone, even in mourning, we still anticipate an arrival. We may not wait in joyful hope, but we wait in faithful hope. Because I work through the liturgies of the season, I can’t always get a flight home in December. I’ve spent Christmas night in a diner, having a turkey sandwich spatula’d with cranberry sauce, surrounded by strangers. Even there, the deep communion of the season embraced us. Santa Claus was sitting in a nearby booth. And Jesus was there too, I do believe. Related scripture links The desert: Deut. 8:14-18; 1 Kings 19:1-8; Jer. 2:2, 4:26; Hos. 2:16; Isa. 13:20, 30:6, 35:1-2; Mark 1:12; Matt. 4:1-11, 15:33-37; Luke 4:1-13; Heb. 3:8-11; Rev. 12:6, 14 The glory of the Lord: Exod. 13:21-22; 19:16-19; 33:7-11; 1 Kings 8:10-13; Ps. 19:1; Isa. 6:3; Mark 9:2-8; Matt. 17:1-8; Luke 9:28-36; Rev. 15:8 Gifts and fruits of the Spirit: Isa. 11:2-3; Gal. 5:22-23

Authors Alice Camille

preparing waiting

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The inner word

07 Dec 2014 - Second Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

"What are you waiting for?” is one of the most common sentences in the English language—perhaps for a reason. Isn’t this the fundamental question of life? What indeed are you waiting for, hoping for, expecting out of life? And as you look around at the faces of those assembled with you, what hopes and expectations do you see written on those faces? How might the coming of the Savior this season address your own hopes and those of the people in your care?

waiting

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Exploring the word

30 Nov 2014 - First Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

Last week was about endings and judgment. The church year concluded; time to choose allegiance to Christ, King of the Universe! With the season of Advent, the wheel of time turns again. Now it’s all about beginnings and fresh starts. This season is pregnant with possibilities, expectant with hope. If you like, you can be born again with Christ! The world is getting another chance to make things right. Each of us is issued the same opportunity to be made new. So it’s just a little formidable to start such a bright season on a note of warning. Be alert! Watch! We might have preferred a word of encouragement, rather than a sharp and sober command. Something soothing to rock the cradle of a new world, you know, more like the Isaian prophecy: Comfort, comfort! Not this militant tone: Stay at your post! Stay awake! But ask an expectant mother what waiting for a birth is like. She watches what she eats like a king with a royal taster, poised for a hint of treachery or danger. She carefully monitors her movements, expenditures of energy, money, and time. Her body becomes a guarded fortress, and a temple, and a treasure chest. She reads voraciously about what’s good for the baby, what’s harmful or ambivalent. Her eye is on the whole world, ready to do battle for this vulnerable new life that depends on her every decision. No one is more alert than an expectant mother with a universe within her to care for. So it’s right to start Advent on a cautious note. In preparing for new life, every hour matters. Every decision is important. The church is pregnant with a mystery about to be revealed! As usual, our Mother Mary leads the way in demonstrating what our discipleship should look like: careful, responsible, vigilant, and patient. That last item is not to be overlooked. We live in a rush-rush world of instant gratification. Click on Amazon for a world of options delivered to your doorstep overnight. But some things take time, and they are often the best things: baking a cake from scratch, making a friend, learning how to love. You don’t want to rush these things or they can fall apart. In a season of waiting, you want to make friends with time. So here’s our invitation at the start of a new church year, a new season with a new event horizon: make friends with time in these four weeks of anticipation. Don’t rush to make all of December a month of Christmas. Be patient. Let the new life the church bears in this season of grace grow on you, and in you. And keep your eyes open for surprises. Related scripture links What are we waiting for: Isa. 65:17, 66:22; Rom. 8:18-25; 2 Pet. 3:8-14; Rev. 21:1-5 The potter of Genesis: Gen. 2:4-7 The potter and the vessel: Jer. 18:1-12, 19:1-15; Isa. 45:9; Job 10:8-12; Wis. 15:7-17; Rom. 9:20; 2 Cor. 4:7 The Lord giveth and taketh: Job 1:21 Catechism links Season of Advent: 524; 1095 Conversion: 821; 1427-1439 Incarnation: 456-464; 470; 478

Authors Alice Camille

anticipation preparing waiting stay alert keep watch

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The inner word

30 Nov 2014 - First Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

How do you feel about taking time away and leaving others in charge? With Advent upon us, you might think it impossible to step back. But perhaps it’s time to be like the person in the gospel who went traveling and left others in charge for a while. Remember that Advent is to be a season of waiting, not rushing. If you already feel like you are running late this season, take a day to step away. When you return, the world just might have slowed down with you!

anticipation waiting

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Sign & sacrament

30 Dec 2012 - Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Cycle C

Waiting patiently is not a talent many of us have. Our tendency is to fill the waiting with all kinds of things to help us forget that we are waiting. Sometimes activity is good, but it can also be a distraction that keeps us from being present to God. When you find yourself in a situation calling for you to wait, consider embracing this quiet, sometimes uncomfortable space. The saying of Catholic sisters, “She also serves who sits and waits,” reminds us that patient waiting can be a gift to our spirit and others.

waiting Quiet

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The inner word

29 Nov 2009 - First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

In his final public address, the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin said, “A dying person does not have time for the peripheral or the accidental. He or she is drawn to the essential, the important.” That is true of the spirit of Advent as well. “The days are coming,” warns Jeremiah. “Be vigilant,” says Jesus. Days are growing short. Do I trust in the promises of old, that “Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure”? Do I accept Saint Paul’s prayer that I “increase and abound in love for one another and for all”? Am I careful not to “become drowsy” as Jesus warns against? What gives me the strength to “stand before the Son of Man”?

vigilance waiting

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Who's listening?

29 Nov 2009 - First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

The temptation as Christmas approaches is that we will become distracted and our attention will be diverted from a true appreciation for the moment. Jeremiah says, “The days are coming,” warning that life-altering, life-defining moments are on their way. Ours is not a culture that encourages patient waiting. We want no lines, quick service, immediate gratification. The psalm says, “The faithful wait on the God who saves.” The invitation of Advent is to practice waiting faithfully.

vigilance waiting appreciate

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Exploring the word

29 Nov 2009 - First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

My grandfather from Austria used to play a little game with us when we were small. He'd walk his fingers up our arms like a spider, repeating a soft chant in his native language: El camina, el camina . . . which means "coming, coming" but doesn't say precisely what's coming. We'd squirm and giggle and try to escape the invisible fate creeping in our direction. When we sit in darkened theaters to watch suspense films, we know "something wicked this way comes," as Macbeth's witch once noted. We expect it and, heck, we've paid for it. In real life, though, we prefer to stave off the arrival of unforeseen and uncontrollable events. Some surprises may be sweet, and wrapped boxes may hold hidden treasures awaiting discovery. But too many times we've had the opposite experience. Unseen forces may await us like mine fields in the course of our lives, disrupting our plans: sickness, loss, unemployment, financial reversals, natural disasters, criminal acts. We may face rejection or betrayal from an unsuspected source. Something is always "coming, coming" in the shadowy background of our days, but often we can't read the handwriting on the wall to know what it is. We don't know if we should prepare to receive this strange arrival or seek to prevent it! We begin the new church year in the spirit of expectation: We don't call this season Advent for nothing. Something is "coming, coming," and we're asked to prepare for its arrival. Is it a good surprise or a bad one? Is it something we've been longing for, or something that's going to ruin everything? If we had to decipher this arrival from today's readings, we might say it could go either way. Jeremiah insists wonderful days are on the way, an era of justice and security. Jesus warns that nations will be in anguish, the heavens will shake, and people will die of fright. Are we supposed to take our pick? Do we get a choice which way things will go? Yes we do! Yes we do. If we are people of justice and right, then the time that is coming will be the best season of all. It will be the answer to prayers, the day of salvation, the arrival of the posse to deliver us from every evil right on schedule! But if you and I benefit from systems of injustice and oppression, if we stand on the backs of other people and enjoy good things at their expense, then we should be afraid, very afraid. Because a day is coming that will spring captives into liberation. And the same day will close like a trap on those who oppress. The Advent we get is the one we choose. Related scripture links Imminent parousia: Rev. 22:20 The unusual end of Enoch, Elijah, and maybe John: Gen. 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11; John 21:21-22 The traditional salary for sin: Rom. 6:23 Lo, to the end of time: Matt. 28:20 Catechism links Advent: CCC 522-524 Waiting in joyful hope: CCC 668-672; 1024-1029; 2612

Authors Alice Camille

anticipation waiting Expectation

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Homily stories

29 Nov 2009 - First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

Look around. The so-called “signs of the season” are all around us. We cannot seem to escape them. It used to be the Saturday after Thanksgiving when Santa would appear in the department stores and the decorations would be put up and the lights turned on. We all know that everything has been put up and lit up, most of it, since Halloween. But we really should not let ourselves be fooled. The gospel warns us not to be taken by surprise. All the Christmas lights, all the decorations, all the carols, all the shopping, all the cooking—none of this can prepare us for what is really coming on Christmas day. So what can prepare us? It is the season of Advent that begins today. This is not only the time for red and green trim, for decorated trees and pretty poinsettias. It is a time of watching and waiting in the quiet and simple solitude of our souls so that as Saint Paul encourages us, we can grow and increase the love that is in our hearts. Above all else, Advent is a time of prayer to make ready the coming of our savior at Christmas. This cannot happen if we are celebrating with wild abandon now. Christmas will be a wonderful time to celebrate with all our traditions and activities. But we need to wait and make Christmas Christmas. This is Advent, the time for preparation. Let us get ourselves ready.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

Christmas christmas presents advent waiting anticipation

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Homily stories

14 Dec 2008 - Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

Anyone who has ever gone on a job interview knows that two elements can be the determining factors to getting hired or not. The first is the resumé. It needs to follow certain clear guidelines that include length (no more than two pages), appearance (perfect), and content (highlights, not an autobiography). Of course it has to be honest and accurate or it may come back to haunt you. Done right, it will get you in the door where the second factor comes into play, the interview. In the interview everything needs to fall into place from appearance (no flashy suits for men or dangling earrings for women) to eye contact, to modulated responses. After that all you can do is wait and hope you did a good job of selling yourself Isaiah presents himself as anointed by God and speaks with joy, which Paul tells us we should always do. John the Baptist, however, doesn’t care how people respond to his appearance. It is his message that is important. He proclaims with joy that the Messiah is coming and coming soon. But John is not the cause for joy. Everyone will have to wait, even if it is just for a little while. And that is the meaning and message of Advent. We wait because the Messiah will change so much. Our joyful waiting, says Paul, should be prayerful because God has chosen us. We need to get ready.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

advent john the baptist anticipation waiting Hope joy

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