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Reflections on the First Sunday of Advent

By Greg Swiderski

The readings for
this Sunday:

Isaiah 2:1-5

Romans 13:11-14

Matthew 24:37-44

This gospel and several like it seem to describe the end of the world. After reading these scriptures peoples through the ages have determined that the day of fear and trembling would be arriving soon. Obviously, they have been wrong. Yet, this desire to predict the precise apocalyptic event persists. Several months ago 60 Minutes interviewed many serious and sincere individuals who believe that the rapture is returning. The "left behind" publications sell.

Many scripture scholars approach these passages differently. They say that the early church did expect Jesus to return soon and saw events in their time like the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the early persecution of the church as portentous of this happenings. However, the cosmic Christ did not return.

Theologians say that Jesus breaks into our lives everyday, every moment and that the exhortation to be awake invites us to be open to surprise; to realize that the divine reign is the present moment: realized eschatology they call it.

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote that we must learn to live each moment as gift; this is why we call it "the present."
Can I understand what fuels those who persist in predicting the day of wrath?

For one, fear sells. The media knows this and manipulates us. Listen to the evening news and hear how so much is sensationalized. In the book Culture of Fear the author explores this phenomenon.

However, when this aura of trauma paralyzes and distracts us from confronting the real threats to our world like nuclear weapons and the gradual degrading of our environment, then we have a serious problem. There seems little excitement in confronting these real monsters. They also seem to big and beyond our grasp.

We also like to feel as though we are among the chosen or elite; after all, what could be more elitist than believing that I will caught up in the divine rapture and the non-believer will be left behind? Aren't we who are baptized and anointed to live convinced of our divine dignity now and not in some far off eternal reward? We are gifted to serve and love.

Finally, are we letting feelings, emotions in the driver's seat? Consider this wisdom from Father Joe, a Benedictine monk. He was advising a teenage Tony Hendra who as an adult wrote: Father Joe, the Man Who Saved My Soul:
“Feelings are a great gift but they’re treacherous if that’s all we live for. They drive us back into our selves, you see. What I want. What I feel. What I need. A man and a woman pass beyond just feelings at some point, don’t they? That’s when they start to know true love. The love of another. The joy in another’s existence. The wonderful ways that the other person is not like you, nor you like them. What you said about the prison of self you felt you were in – that was very exact. Love releases you from that prison, you see.”

We followers of the good news proclaim that love defines who we are. May we act, live with confidence rooted in a divine and mysterious theological virtue which, like Eleanor Roosevelt’s NOW, is the greatest gift.