1st Sunday of Advent
Spend this season increasing and abounding in love
In his letter to the Thessalonians today St. Paul exhorts us: “Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.”
I cannot think of a finer way to enter into this season of advent then with the mission to increase our love for one another so that we can grow in holiness before God.
Conduct yourselves to please God
St. Paul goes on to advise us how we might achieve this - he says: “as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God and as you are conducting yourselves you do so even more”.
The secret to a holy and profitable Advent is to adopt one to two habits of the saints, so that by imitating them we might gain insight into the spiritual truths that their actions point us to. To help us in learning how to do this we have three saints today who have a special connection to Christmas - St. Nicholas of Myra, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Cecilia.
St. Nicholas - Giver of gifts
Much of what we know about the life of St. Nicholas comes from Michael the Archimandrite who wrote “Life, Works, and Miracles of our Holy Father Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia”.
In his works, Michael identifies that St. Nicholas was born in 280 in Patara in modern day Turkey. Patara is on the southern coast of Turkey in the bottom left corner as you look on a map. Tradition has it that Nicholas was left orphaned by his parents when he was young. When he was at an age to behave irresponsibly, he remained remarkably chaste. His parents died when he was young, and as a young man he began to give away his inheritance.
Michael shares an example about 3 daughters whose family was too poor to afford a dowry and were threatened with being sold into slavery. Nicholas learned of this deplorable situation and wanted to help, but at the same time he did not want to be known as the one who was giving the gifts, so at night he went out in secret and tossed a coin-purse with gold in it through the window of the man’s house, so that first one, then the second had a dowry and were married. Michael reports that Nicholas was caught when he threw in the coin-purse for the third daughter, but Nicholas made the person who caught him promise not to tell others of his almsgiving.
Nicholas subsequently became a monk and took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he lived near the church in Bethlehem. On return from his pilgrimage he was elected Archbishop of Myra and attended the council of Nicea (from which we received the Nicene Creed) - During the council Nicholas persuaded Bishop Theognis to an Orthodox faith and he also allegedly punched the heretic Arius in the face. Nicholas also survived the persecution of Diocletian - during which he was imprisoned and tortured - yet he remained true to the faith.
The Lessons of the Life of St. Nicholas
Imitate Christ by being a generous giver of gifts to those in profound need.
Take some time to become rooted in the creed - especially the sections that speak to the nature of Christ.
St. Francis of Assisi - the Humility of Christ
One of our Christian traditions is to have a nativity scene around the house. My personal nativity is one my Mom bought when I was born from Japan - so it is cool because Mary, St. Joseph and Jesus have Japanese expressions. Each Advent I get out the Nativity scene and as the Christmas season approaches Mary and Joseph slowly make their way to Bethlehem where Christ is born, and then the 3 wise-men (from the east) begin their journey towards the Christ child ending with the feast of the Epiphany.
St. Bonaventure tells us about the first nativity. He describes that St. Francis wanted his brothers to truly understand the reality of the incarnation so in 1223 he asked the Pope for permission to celebrate the Christmas Mass in a cave in the hills near Greccio. Permission was granted and Francis prepared a manger, with oxen and donkeys, and a crib prepared that was filled with hay, that was used as an altar for the celebration of the Eucharist. Bonaventure tells that the Mass began at night with a torchlit procession through the forest led by the brothers singing the entrance hymn. Francis chanted the Gospel and preached about the mission of the King of the Poor being born in poverty in a cave in Bethlehem and being laid in a manger - that prefigures for us the gift of the Eucharist which nourishes us on our journey to eternal life.
Lessons from St. Francis - immerse yourself in the reality of the incarnation
“Good and upright is the LORD; thus he shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice, and teaches the humble his way.”
Francis was moved by his life of prayer to enter into the mystery of this Christmas season in a deep and visceral way. How can we spend our time this Advent profitably so that our hearts are open to the gifts that God gives to us.
Francis did this through the experience of the nativity scene recreated in a cave to show the poverty, humility and love of God.
In what way can we alter our way of life these next four weeks to prepare ourselves to celebrate the gift of humility that God gives us?
We learn by doing and experiencing the love of Christ.
If you need a practical example here - consider time for Adoration this coming week - think of it as a moment sitting in the manger with Jesus and the blessed Mother as she marvels in the miracle of the incarnation.
St. Cecilia of Rome - praising God in Song
Last weekend to celebrate the feast of St. Cecilia we blessed all of the musicians here at Mass. Of all of the major events of the Gospel only the incarnation is celebrated with music. St. Luke tells us in his Gospel that the birth of Christ was heralded by choirs of angels, and after their visit to the manger by praises to God sung by the shepherds who were the first witnesses to His birth.
St. Cecilia was a virgin who lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus who persecuted Christians severely. Cecilia made a vow to live her life as a virgin, however her pagan family arranged for her to marry. After her marriage Cecilia told her husband of her vow, and he was baptized a Christian, along with his brother by Pope Urban I who at that time was hiding in the catacombs on the Appian way.
The conversion of her husband and his brother was discovered by the authorities, and they were brought to the temple of Jupiter and asked to offer sacrifice - which they refused and for their refusal they were executed.
Soldiers were sent to arrest St. Cecilia, but she proclaimed the gospel to them and they were converted, and so she was sentenced to be boiled alive in a bath house. When that attempt to kill her failed an executioner was sent to behead her, but he also failed. While grievously wounded she continued to proclaim the gospel until she perished three days later. St. Cecilia was buried in the catacombs of St. Calixtus. Her body was later discovered to be incorrupt, with her hands arranged to proclaim her faith in the Blessed Trinity.
The Lesson of St. Cecilia - Praising God with Song
St. Cecilia proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ through her music. One way we can spend this advent season in a spirit of prayer and music is to sing the song “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” - at work or at home - immersing ourselves in the proclamation of the Gospel and the praise of God at the same time.
Prepare for Christmas / Prepare for the Eschaton!
Today the readings focus us on the coming of Christ at the end of time. We don’t know the day or the hour, but we know that when it comes we need to be prepared. St. Paul encourages us to be prepared by imitating the lives of the saints. Take advantage of this holy season to grow in holiness - so that we can come to the celebration of Christmas with hearts ready to welcome the love of God in His simplicity and humility.
