First Sunday of Advent

 Lectionary: 2

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you, while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for, such as they had not heard of from of old.
No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him.

Today's reading is from the third section of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah; it was written after the Babylonian Exile, and long after the pre-exilic prophet had passed into eternity. 

By this time, Isaiah has become a book and a tradition, just as Jesus had become the Gospel when the last book of the New Testament was written. The anonymous authors wrote under the same divine inspiration. The Jews who honored Isaiah and the Christians who honored Jesus preserved, edited, added more material, copied, and translated the texts. 

The links between Isaiah and the Gospel are obvious because Jesus had studied Isaiah, and the disciples had often heard his words in their synagogues, just as Christians hear him in our churches. Saint Paul didn't need to name the book, chapter and verse when he wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, 

What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,

and what has not entered the human heart,

what God has prepared for those who love him,

His people knew the text. Nor were they unfamiliar with, 

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,

with the mountains quaking before you,

while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,

such as they had not heard of from of old. 

They knew the stories of God's mighty work from of old; they sang psalms about them often during their liturgies, as we do during our Masses and Divine Office. They harbored no doubt that God could and would come down as he had before. And they pleaded as we do, that he would come soon. 

Advent urges us to remember and renew our longing for the Coming of the Lord. The world's nations and societies need an encounter with God like that unexpected, unwanted intervention some families, friends, and employers arrange with addicts and alcoholics. If our scientific knowledge of the earth cannot imagine the sky being rent like a tent cloth in a gale, we nonetheless long for something new, a real, palpable, and overwhelming disturbance to force the nations to acknowledge God's sovereign rule. 

Abortions cannot continue; wars and the killing of defenseless citizens with weapons of ever-increasing destruction must cease. Children, seniors, and despondent persons must be reminded that life is a gift. Women, the sick and elderly, Jews, and all other minorities must be accorded their human dignity. Children must embrace their given sexual identity, and not be told to choose their "gender." 

Everyone must learn to make sacrifices for the common good with a generous spirit, to take up their crosses gratefully, and to follow in the joyful path of Our Savior. Is that so hard to imagine? 

God knows we have been warned. The increasing rate of suicide, hate crimes, and gun violence, not to mention the election of a fraud as president of the United States: are these not signs of God's wrath for the crimes of abortion? The children who were supposed to be more loved because their mothers chose not to abort them struggle with the existential question, "Why should I not kill myself?” 

Even our locked churches must show us God's disapproval. By divine decree we cannot visit his house of prayer when we feel sad, dejected, or confused. The buildings which had no locks, which used to be as familiar as your own living room, are closed except when a sufficient number can provide safety to everyone. And even then, some churches post armed guards at the entrances. 

During Advent Christians feel God's imminent coming. "The Lord is near!" we say. And we cultivate that expectancy. Society is still screaming at us to get with their Christmas Spirit but we hear John the Baptist cry, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” And we know the channels to our hearts are too dark, blocked, and twisted to receive him. We hear God calling us to quiet places where we might repent with fasting, prayer, and works of charity. 

If we cannot visit our churches and chapels, we quiet our homes; and if we cannot quiet our homes we close the doors to our rooms and pray to God in secret, where our Father who sees in secret comforts and reassures us. We ask God for mercy on us, our loved ones, and our nation. 

The Lord was prepared to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of ten good men; none were found. We pray that he will find us ready, worthy, and eager at his coming.