First Sunday of Advent

Lectionary 3 (click link to USCCB on-line Lectionary)

Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent,
and to stand before the Son of Man."

As we begin the Season of Advent and the cycle of another liturgical year, the Church urges all her children to prayer and penance. We must prepare our minds, bodies and hearts for the judgement that will come as surely as the spring follows winter. 

In the very oldest Christian document Saint Paul urged his disciples in Thessaloniki to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Even as he preached to his Jewish brethren in the Greek cities, he reminded them of the ancient Jewish tradition of penance. 

It was not enough to recall their divine election from ancient times. Any Jewish boy or girl could tell the tales of Moses amid the bulrushes and Moses and the Burning Bush. They knew the ten plagues that fell on Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea. They knew of David, Solomon and Josiah. They were familiar with Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah and Jeremiah. These traditions separated them from the gentiles, but knowing the stories was not enough. They had to be holy as our God is holy. 

When gentiles crowded into the Christian gatherings, Saint Paul welcomed and instructed them. They had to be initiated into the Jewish story. But knowing the stories did not make them Jews; to do that they had to be made holy through penance: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. 

The genius of the Jewish tradition were its readiness to admit the sins of their past and present, and its eagerness to hear the word of God anew. They would be a nation unlike any other as they acknowledged the sins of their ancestors. 

The Church urges us to the same attitudes. We must admit our sins as individuals and as families, as parishes and dioceses and as the universal Church. Blessed Pope John Paul II demonstrated this when he apologized to dozens of different groups. He permitted no excuses for our behavior: 

An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded.

As I have learned the practice of penance I have seen how eager I am to make excuses for my behavior: 

1. I had to do it; 
2. They made me do; 
3. I had no choice; 
4. I didn't know any better; 
5. Had you been there you would have done the same thing; 
6. I was tired; 
7. I wasn't feeling well; 
8. I was afraid; 
9. I was angry; 
10. I was lonely; 
11. I was hungry,
12. I did what everyone was doing; 
13. and so forth....

The clever human mind is capable of endless, almost eternal excuses. And yet, we need none! God doesn't want to hear them for they serve only to block his forgiving grace. The excuse, in essence, says "I have not done wrong and I need no special mercy." The excuse also says, "I am special; I deserve special treatment!" 

Penance surrenders all that crap. I am not special; I am just like the rest of people; I am no better than my ancestors and my descendants; I have sinned. I have done evil. 

A Christian surrenders every excuse as we await the judgement of God. We prepare for that with Penance. During his holy season of Advent we confess our sins to a priest, and to one another. We prepare our hearts, minds and bodies to be surprised by grace, unearned and undeserved.