1ST SUNDAY YEAR C

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Jer 33, 14-16; 1 Thess. 3, 12-4, 2; Luke 21, 25-28.34-36; Year C)

    The new liturgical year, the year of the Church, the year of the Christian community begins this Sunday. What is the liturgical year and how is it to be distinguished from the civil one?

    The liturgical year is the period during which the Church and every Christian community celebrate all the mysteries of Christ from his Incarnation, birth, passion, death, resurrection, ascension to Pentecost.Besides, it represents and re-proposes the public life of Jesus, his preaching and miracles, as they are transmitted by the Evangelists. Vatican II elucidates: Remembering the mystery of redemption, the Church makes available the richness or wealth of the salvific action and merits of her Lord in such a way as to make them present at all times so that the faithful can come into contact and be filled with the graces of salvation (Sacrosantum Concilium, no. 102). The Liturgical year is not, therefore, a simple remembering, a mere re-invocation of the events of the past, but a rendering/making, present and efficacious now and at all times, the mystery of salvation actual. Therefore, if every liturgical year is well lived, it becomes a year rich in grace and divine benevolence. 

    The liturgical year starts with the Advent period comprising four Sundays and four weeks which precede Christmas. Originally, advent was destined to prepare the Christians for a dignified celebration of the feast of Christmas, but with passage of time, Advent assumed a more ample and complete meaning. According to St. Bernard, there are three Advents. The first Advent was when the Son of Man appeared in our humble human nature, thereby fulfilling the ancient promise and opening the way of eternal salvation. The ultimate Advent will be that of the future, the glorious apparition of Christ, as judge of the universe at the end of the world. Finally, the third Advent, which St. Bernard called intermediary Advent. In the first Advent, the coming of Christ was evident, so will the last be equally manifest, or rather glorious. The intermediary Advent, on the other hand, is hidden, intimate, and interior: it is the coming of Christ in peoples’ heart. He comes in the power of the Spirit, as St. Bernard holds. The intermediary Advent, on the one hand, actualizes the first Advent and on the other hand anticipates the ultimate Advent and assures that through it, Jesus will bring his faithful servants into glory.

    What dispositions are necessary for the soul to live intensely, the Advent in its triple dimension? The readings of today give some indications. The first reading that is interpreted like an oracle of God indicates the relationship between God and the covenant people of Israel. It begins with the announcement that God will deliver his people to safety and ends with the people grounding their salvation in the righteousness of God.  The Christian, who is in a relationship with God that started at Baptism should, in the period of Advent, open up to the graces of God by committing himself whole heartedly to the indication of God’s will (righteousness). In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul gives some indication of how to live intensely the Advent period. Paul is asking for the Thessalonians’ maturity and spiritual growth. When they grow thus, their capacity of love increases. He enjoins them to practice both communal love (love for one another) and universal love, love for all. Such love breaks out of ethnocentric bounds and resembles the inclusive love of God. This kind of universal love pervades the entire being of the one loving because it flows from the heart, which is believed to be the seat of understanding, will and the place where the hidden motives of life and conduct takes place. From Paul’s letter we still glean another way to profit spiritually in this period of Advent. The Christian is to advance towards the paths of righteous living. This will enable the Christian to be blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus, be it at the intermediary or the ultimate Advent.

    The gospel reading of today proposes keeping watch and praying for intense living of the period of Advent. One needs to keep watch so as not to leave oneself to be benumbed by the worldly mentality, and unbridled pursuit of money, pleasure and power. However it is not enough to be vigilant, we also need to pray. Prayer will expose our need for help and at the same time help us turn confidently to God who is the only One who can help us live intensely and profitably the Advent period. An intense Advent way of life is both simple and profound. It does not necessarily require unusual behaviour in our part, but it calls us to live the usual unusually well. It affects the everyday events of life; it directs the way we interact with people; it informs the attitude that colour our judgement and motivations. It is as ordinary as the birth of a child, and as extraordinary as the revelation of God. May we ask the good Lord therefore, to bestow his graces on us that we may understand the meaning of his coming into our lives and that we may be enabled  to appreciate fully and profitably the revelation of himself, which he entrusts to us, mere mortal beings. Happy New Liturgical Year! Happy Advent Season and Happy Sunday! 

 +John I. Okoye