First Sunday of Advent Nov 28, 2021

 HOMILY    First Sunday of Advent   Cycle “C”                                       November 28, 2021

           Picture if you will, the scene Jesus paints in today’s Gospel: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.”   Oh my!  Doesn’t that sound like fun? 

          Then it gets better: “People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”   

          It really sounds pretty awful.  It doesn’t sound like something I would want to come in my lifetime.  It can wait for a couple of more centuries, just like we hope the next big New Madrid or San Francisco earthquake, or the next freeze and power outage waits for a couple more centuries to occur. 

          Then Jesus says something unexpected, surprising: “But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. “

          Jesus is telling us this is something to look forward to, to anticipate, to eagerly long for.  One of the earliest Christian prayers we have, in Aramaic, Jesus’ own language, is “Maranatha”, which means, “Come Lord Jesus!”  In other words, “Bring it on!”   Our ancestors in the faith eagerly looked forward to this happening, and awaited the Second Coming with eager anticipation. 

          Why should we look forward to such upheaval, dislocation and destruction?  Don’t we have enough disruption and distress already?  Because, Jesus tells us, “your redemption is at hand.” 

          Redemption.  What is that all about?      

Many years ago when I was a little boy living in St. Louis, my Mother used to save something called S & H Green stamps. 

 Anyone else remember them?  I used to lick those things and stick them into books.  And after you had filled up a bunch of books with these green stamps you would take them to REDEMPTION center where you could “redeem” the stamps for household goods and other merchandise, like a camera, or towels, or pots, or stools, and so on.  In other words, you got a reward or a prize. 

          Redemption has to do with getting the goodies.  So, Jesus tells us, when all these disasters happen we should stand erect and raise our heads, because our redemption is at hand!   We are about to get the goodies, the reward, the pay off, the prize.  OK!

          But what we turn in – or redeem - is not books of stamps, but our lives.  And more specifically, the quality of our lives:  how compassionate we were, how generous, how honest, how concerned for others, how respectful, how gracious and filled with gratitude we were, how loving and so on. 

          Now some are going to have more “stamps,” if I can put it that way, to redeem than others:  they will have more good works, more time in prayer, more faith and hope and love – in short a holier life - to redeem.  And of course they get a BIGGER prize. 

          So if we are smart, we really should be striving to acquire more of these spiritual “stamps” to put it crassly.  So in our second reading today we hear St. Paul tell us: “Finally, brothers and sisters, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should

conduct yourselves to please God  - and as you are conducting yourselves –  you do so even more.” 

Even more???    Yes.  St. Paul says that you are doing OK, but YOU CAN DO BETTER.  You can live even more in God’s way, and please God even more. 

          St. Paul is urging us to be spiritually ambitious;  to set our sights higher; to strive for an even deeper life in Christ.  We should not be satisfied with what we have achieved, but rather seek even greater life in Christ.  For St. Paul, in the spiritual life ambition is a great thing.  And as we begin this new liturgical year, this first Sunday of Advent, St Paul is urging us to greater accomplishments, to live more completely in Christ.  Just “as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God - and as you are conducting yourselves - you do so even more.”

          Or as St. Paul tells us in the First Epistle to the Corinthians: “Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.” (12;31)  Paul is encouraging spiritual ambition!

The example of redeeming stamps for merchandise can only take us so far in understanding redemption, and pretty soon it starts limping, hobbling and breaking down.  Because what we get is not some object like a toaster or a pan, but rather something infinitely better: eternal life – that is, the fullness of life, complete life, total life.   No more worrying over political arguments at Thanksgiving dinner, but reconciliation, peace and harmony with our own selves, with all other people, with all of creation, and more importantly with God.   

Redemption is about life – the fullness of life for which we all long.

          As we begin this new season of Advent, of waiting for the coming of Christ at Christmas and more importantly waiting for His Second Coming in glory, the Church urges us to seek after the fullness of life by striving to welcome Christ more fully and completely into our hearts and all of our lives.           That is something to strive for.  Be ambitious!