The Family-Centered Life

A Personal Reflection on Advent-Christmas

by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades

“God Comes”

“Come, Lord Jesus”
(Revelation 22:20)

These words near the end of the Bible are a prayer for the coming of Christ in glory. The first weeks of Advent focus on our expectation of the Lord’s final coming, His glorious return at the end of time.

As Christmas approaches, the focus of the liturgy shifts to the coming of Christ in “the fullness of time,” His holy birth in the grotto of Bethlehem.

Between these two “comings” of the Lord, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux identifies a third invisible coming which occurs in our souls through grace. Saint Bernard cites the words of Jesus regarding this “middle” coming: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him” (John 14:23).

“God comes.” This is the joyful message of Advent. Our Lord has come in the Incarnation to free us from the slavery of sin and death. He comes now to dwell in us for the same saving purpose. And He will come at the end of time to transform humanity and the world, definitively realizing God’s plan “to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:10).

As we contemplate the three comings of the Lord during this season of Advent, the principal truth is that indeed “God comes.” The one true God is not a distant, unapproachable, disinterested Supreme Being. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not up there in heaven unconcerned about us and our history. He is always “the God who comes,” our loving Father who, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, “never stops thinking of us and, in the extreme respect of our freedom, desires to meet us and visit us; He wants to come, to dwell among us, to stay with us. His ‘coming’ is motivated by the desire to free us from evil and death, from all that prevents our true happiness. God comes to save us.”

Because “God comes,” we can live in hope. Advent is a season of hope, of joyful expectation and anticipation of the Lord’s coming. Is this not what gives our life meaning, joy, and purpose, that our almighty God, the Creator of the universe, indeed comes to save us? He sends His Son as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, as the Messiah’s precursor, Saint John the Baptist, announced.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the God-who-comes and Mother of Hope, teaches us how to live this season of Advent. She experienced the first Advent as she awaited the birth of her Son in a spirit of prayer, with wonder, love, and joy in her heart. She exclaimed to Elizabeth: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47).

With Mary, let us give priority as we prepare for Christmas to prayer. This means allowing God to find space in our hearts. Amid the noise and busy-ness of this often hectic season, we need to discover the value of silence so that at Christmas we will be able to hear the song of the angels who proclaim to the shepherds that a Savior has been born to us, Christ the Lord.

Prayer is never a waste of time. I invite you, amid the many activities of these weeks of preparation for Christmas, to spend some time with Mary to contemplate the mystery of the Lord’s coming. Stop in church for a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Attend a daily Advent liturgy. Pray the joyful mysteries of the holy rosary. Pray the Angelus, the beautiful prayer recited for centuries to commemorate the mystery of the Incarnation. Meditate on the sacred Scriptures, particularly on the daily readings of Advent. If you have an Advent wreath, lighting the candles and saying some accompanying prayers is a visible means to enter into the spirit of Advent as a family or even by oneself. These are just a few ideas and suggestions. The most important thing is not how we pray but that we pray.

Advent calls us to deeper prayer, in union with Mary who, at the Nativity, “treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Receiving the sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation is a wonderful way to prepare for Christmas. The sinless Virgin Mary, our Immaculate Mother, proclaimed that “God has mercy on those who fear Him in every generation” (Luke 1:50). “The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who ‘loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins’ (1 John 4:10) [CCC 457]. Confession, the sacrament of Penance, restores us to God’s grace. What a great way to prepare for Christmas when we will celebrate the birth of our Savior who came precisely to reconcile us with Him and one another.

Advent is not a time of passive expectation. As she prepared for her Son’s birth, our Lady actively served the needs of others. She went in haste to visit her elderly cousin Elizabeth. She stayed with her for three months to assist her in her pregnancy. We also should recall that Jesus said He came “not to be served, but to serve.” Essential and inseparable from prayer are “good works.” On the first Sunday of Advent, we prayed to
God: “increase our strength of will for doing good.” In this perspective, Advent is a season to be mindful of our call to serve others, especially the sick and the suffering, the poor and the needy. As we shop for Christmas presents, let us also generously give a gift to someone in need, a gift of love to Jesus present “in the least of our brothers and sisters.” Our Lord who comes as judge at the end of time reminds us that we will be
judged on our love for the hungry and thirsty, the naked, the ill, the stranger, and the imprisoned (cf. Matthew 25:31-46).

At Christmas, we will sing again the song of the angels that first Christmas: “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth to men of good will” (Luke 2:14). A hymn of peace rang out in heaven when God became man, when the Prince of Peace foretold by Isaiah came to earth. As followers of Jesus we are called to be “staunch champions of human dignity and courageous builders of peace,” as Pope Benedict reminded us at the beginning of this year. The birth of Christ helps us to become aware of the sacred value of human life from the moment of conception to natural death. In our Advent prayers and service, let us re-commit ourselves to the defense of all human life, to proclaiming in word and deed the Gospel of life, the Gospel of peace, the Gospel of love.

Let us prepare ourselves this Advent to meet Jesus, the Emmanuel, God-with-us. May we be focused on the true meaning of Christmas! Assisted by the example and the prayers of Mary and Joseph, let us be spiritually prepared through prayer, penance, and service to welcome God who comes, making room for Jesus in our hearts, in our homes, and in our communities.

A blessed Advent and Christmas to all!

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