Can you believe we are in Advent already?
During these four weeks of holy preparation, I want to
walk through a few lines of a few Christmas carols such that, by Christmas, we
will truly be ready for Jesus’ Coming. So, today I want to begin by singing a
few lines from the quintessential Christmas carol:
Joy to the world! The Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room.
(And that’s where I will end this
song…)
“Joy to the world!” we sing. But notice the next line:
Let earth receive her King. We just celebrated Christ the King last week,
celebrating Jesus our Messiah who reigns.
And then the next line: “Let ev’ry heart prepare Him
room.”
Prepare Him room. Prepare the King room!
* * *
This is The Theme of Advent. As we hear in the first reading,
Jeremiah tells us that God shall raise up a “just shoot” (Jer 33:14) from the “stump
of Jesse” (Is 11:1). All of the prophets, including the last and the greatest,
St. John the Baptist, will therefore cry out: “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Is
40:3; Mal 3:1; Mk 1:3), “make straight his paths!” (Jn 1:23), and “repent…!”
(Mk 1:15). This was the preparation necessary for Jesus’ First Coming.
Yet, in the Gospel, we hear our Messiah telling us that
He will come again—for a Second Coming. Just like His first coming, where there
was a star over Bethlehem, for Jesus’ Second Coming there will be signs in the
sky and a need to “be vigilant at all times and pray” (Lk 21:36) else that “day
catch you by surprise like a trap” (Lk 21:34-35). Preparation, therefore, is
demanded of us so we are ready when the earth receives her King.
And yet, there is a Third Coming of our Lord, a coming
that is similar to His first where He came humble and hidden as a little babe
in the feeding trough of the manger in Bethlehem (“house of bread”); and that
Third Coming is here at Holy Mass. For this coming, St. Paul calls his flock to
examine itself and prepare well to receive holy communion, else our Lord come
to the soul and find no room to dwell (cf. 1 Cor 11:23-32).
* * *
This Advent, this Coming, of Christ can be summed up in
the ancient story of Christmas Eve. On that silent night, that holy night,
Jesus the King approached the little town of Bethlehem. Jesus was hidden in the
womb of Mary—Mary who was riding a donkey (a procession that would be fulfilled
at Jesus’ Messianic entry into Jerusalem when He would be embraced as a King,
and yet riding on a donkey). Mary and Joseph would enter into Bethlehem on that
Christmas Eve, looking for room for Jesus. They would knock on the doors of the
inns and on the doors of the hearts of those that dwelled therein. But there
was no room.
Bethlehem! Of all places! This was The Place where
there should have been room! The small, unassuming town was the center of the
most specific of Messianic prophecies! The Messiah was to be born there! Of all
towns, they should have been the last to let their hearts “become drowsy from
carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life.” They, of all people,
should have been the last to have “that day catch you by surprise like a trap.”
But it did.
* * *
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room.
Where did Jesus go? He went to the place where there was
room: the simple and empty manger, occupied only by cows, oxen, sheep, and then
by angels. It was there that
heav’n and nature sing.
Heaven (the holy angels) and nature (the animals)
received the King, but in the hearts of men, there was no room. Room would be
made in the hearts of the simple shepherds who left their flocks that night—they
would receive Him. But not Bethlehem.
Here is the challenge for us this Advent: we must become
less like the inns and more like the manger. Less like the world and its
drowsiness from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of this season—less
like that and more like the humble, simple, receptive manger.
This doesn’t mean that we cannot sing songs or put up
Christmas trees and the like. Indeed, I think we should! Even more, I must say:
I don’t care about “Christmas Creep.” Why should I let my heart be filled with
criticism about Christmas songs? What is Christmas but the coming of Christ—and
don’t we believe that Christ is here every day in the Eucharist? So, I don’t
care about Christmas Creep.
What I do care about is when we have become so full of
celebration before Christmas that on December 26th we should be
tired of Christmas. Radio stations turn off Christmas songs—we are too full!
December 26th is when I’m just starting to cry out “Joy to the
World!” (and I’m not talking “Jeremiah was a bullfrog”!)
Isn’t it a shame that the last thing that most
people experience during these days of preparation and on December 26th
is “joy”? Hustle and bustle, anxieties of life, arguments in families, and
bickering about the red Starbucks cups? Yes, perhaps we are too full!
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room.
* * *
How shall we do this? I think the first thing is to let
our Lord clean out our hearts. Let him clean out the resentment and the
criticism and the worldliness—and all the gunk and dirtiness of sin that
clutters up our hearts. I think we need to go to confession during this Advent
season. Let our Lord prepare your heart; Let Him make room for you by freeing
you of the darkness in your heart. “The people that have walked in darkness
have seen a great light” says the Lord! (Is 9:2; Mt 4:16).
Second, I think we need to concentrate on what really
matters: slowing down for quiet prayer, reflection, and time for family.
A couple of years ago, I had the honor to offer the funeral
Mass of a holy man. This man was the father of a lovely family—wife, kids,
grandkids… As we prepared for his
funeral, the family told me how their dad would write each one of his kids a
letter for Christmas, telling each one of them how much he loved them and how
he was proud of them. Of all the things they could have remembered as they
prepared for his funeral, this was their favorite memory: dad’s letters at
Christmas.
Such gifts require time, slowing down, praying,
reflecting, and being with family.
I dare say, a good confession and a good letter—if we
prepare and do well here, we will experience joy. A joy that will help us to
see Jesus—not only in the crib, but in the Eucharist; a joy that will help us
to see Jesus not only in the babe, but in our families that so need His
presence!; a joy that will truly prepare our hearts and make us eager and ready
when He comes again. We will receive our King. He will come to the doors of our
soul and of our lips and He will find room.
And there will be joy!
Joy to the world! The Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room.
And heaven and nature sing!
And heaven and nature sing!
And heaven and heaven and nature
sing!
May it be so for you and yours this Advent.
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