A Homily for the First Sunday of Advent

+ Amidst the impending distress, fear and troubles prophesied by Our Lord in the Holy Gospel of this Mass—a prophecy which is made anew to each of us this morning by virtue of its liturgical proclamation by the Church—we are commanded to do one thing: “respicite, levate capita vestra: quoniam appropinquat redemtio vestra.” “Look up,” we are told, “lift up your heads: for your redemption is at hand.”
 
This is surely not our first inclination. In the face of fear and distress we often bury our heads. When trouble confronts us it is so much easier to look away. These reactions do little to deal with the problem—they probably only serve to prepare us a little to suffer the realisation of our fears. They are natural enough reactions. We employ them in the face of confrontations of all sorts, in suffering serious health problems and even in respect of our continual battle against sin, the world, the flesh and the devil.
 
But the Gospel teaches us that such a natural reaction is insufficient. We who are baptised into Christ are to react to tribulation of any sort in a supernatural manner: “respicite, levate capita vestra: quoniam appropinquat redemtio vestra.” “Look up,” we are told, “lift up your heads: for your redemption is at hand.” For it is precisely in these moments of danger, temptation and trial that our Redeemer comes to us to save us. He is there to rescue us if only we will look to Him.
 
And yet, how often we look anywhere and everywhere but unto Him! How often we look to ourselves and place our faith in our own self-sufficiency. “I can manage,” I tell myself, knowing all the while that I am utterly afraid of the fact that I cannot.
 
How often we seek redemption elsewhere—in activism, frenetically busying ourselves with anything at all simply to avoid confronting the problems before us; in the pursuit of pleasure (legitimate or otherwise) to dull the pain our inadequacy gives rise in us; or even in aggression for its own sake, for as they say, ‘attack is the best form of defence’ (it at least gives us the consoling pretense of being powerful).
 
None of this is appropriate for a Christian. If we have been given gifts, most certainly we may use them, and there is no question but that we must rightly busy ourselves with many things in this life. So too we may freely enjoy its legitimate pleasures. At times we may need to use the strength and resources we have at our disposal to defend all that is good, true and beautiful and of God. None of these correct behaviours, however, can be exaggerated to the extent that they deny the Source of all that we have at our disposal, or replace Him with ourselves. Rather, the correct use of any capacity, gift or resource at our disposal in good times or bad is in humility and gratitude to Him for what has been entrusted to our care, ever seeking to make better use of such gifts according to His Will.
 
If this first Sunday of Advent has any message for us it is this: “Respicite, levate capita vestra: quoniam appropinquat redemtio vestra.” “Look up,lift up your heads: for your redemption is at hand.” No matter what illness, evil, persecution, strife or other trouble confronts us today, or tomorrow, the answer is not to run away or to hide or to seek some anesthetising substitute. No, the answer is to lift up our heads in faith and to look to the Lord, Our Redeemer, who comes to save us.
 
The Introit and the Offertory both sing the same message: “Ad te levavi animam meam: Deus meus in te confido…” To you I lift up my soul: my God in you I place my trust…  We are to turn and look to the Lord who comes: in Him—and not in counterfeit substitutes or our own or of others’ making, howsoever attractive, innocent or even partially good they seem to be—shall we find salvation.
 
The psalmists often encountered difficulty. The realities they faced were frequently quite desperate, as their verses explain in great detail. But the psalmists sing of greater realities, which is why they are the foundation, the very bread and butter as it were, of the Church’s prayer.
 
Psalm 17, which we sing at Prime on Friday, is one example. “Laudans invocabo Dominum, et ab inimicis meis, salvus ero,” verse four of psalm 17 sings. “I call upon the Lord with praise and shall be saved from my enemies”—words which the Church’s traditional Roman liturgy has the priest pray just before he receives the Precious Blood from the Sacred Chalice at Mass. Let us note that the Psalm teaches us that “I shall be saved from my enemies by calling on the Lord with praise.” This is the attitude of the Christian—not to curse and swear, but to find salvation in being faithful to the Praise of Almighty God. This is our defence in any situation, just as it was the defence of so many martyrs and other saints throughout the ages. Amidst the sufferings in the Church, the world and our families at this time we would do well to adopt this disposition anew for ourselves this Advent.
 
“Levate capita vestra: quoniam appropinquat redemtio vestra.” Our wise Mother, the Church will repeat this call in one of the antiphons at the first vespers of Christmas.  Let us heed her wisdom and insistence in the weeks before that great feast and prepare ourselves well—most certainly by making a good confession—so that when the Lord comes we shall ever more ready to turn to the Lord and to look to Him as his sons and daughters and thus partake fully in the redemption He comes to bring. +