Homilies

Homily For Mass For 2nd Sunday Advent Year C

09 Dec 2018
  

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 2ND SUNDAY ADVENT YEAR C
St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

 

Why Advent? Lent is sort of obvious: as Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem, to His trial and Cross and tomb, we accompany him with hushed voices, downcast faces, wearing the colour of his bruises. Prayer, penance and alms giving come almost naturally to us in times of shame and grief like Lent.

But Advent’s mood is different. For one thing it’s only half as long. And what comes at the end of our waiting is not a death but a birth. Whatever its challenges, pregnancy is not a period of mourning. And even if we focus on the other aspect of Advent, the Second Coming, when Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”, we properly greet this prospect with excitement, indeed we pray for it.

Sure enough, our Advent readings today lack the sombre mood of Lent. “Take off that dress of sorrow and distress,” says our First Reading, “and put on the beauty robe of God’s glory; wrap the cloak of God’s integrity around you; put the diadem of God’s splendour on your head” (Bar 5:1-9). Likewise, our Psalm promises those who go out ‘full of tears’ that they’ll come back ‘full of song’, singing Advent carols. Judging from the endless office parties and end-of-year celebrations there’s not much hope of Lenten sobriety in this country in any case. But what is it the liturgical calendar asking of us at this time of year?

“Get up, take the high ground, look East,” says the Prophet, look towards the sun, because something wonderful is dawning. “Purify yourselves in preparation for the Day of Christ,” says the Apostle (Phil 1:3-11). “Prepare,” says the Precursor (Lk 3:1-6). The mood of Advent is alertness, excitement, readiness: because something important is going to happen soon. So important, indeed, that Baruch says “God has decreed the flattening of the mountains and the filling of the valleys”. So important that John the Baptist cries in the wilderness: “Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight… so all may see the salvation of our God.” The Christmas decorations may be put up indecent early in our city and with mixed motives; but the instinct to announce the coming of the Lord is a sound one.

Alertness, even excitement, about Christ’s coming at Christmas and return at the end of ages, fine: but readiness? Are we ever really ready? How could we prepare for such a thing? Well, Jesus once told a story that helps us get it. A king held a wedding feast for His Son, but those who He first invited wouldn’t come (Mt 22:1-14). He asked repeatedly. But they stuck to their own concerns and treated the King’s messengers shamefully. It’s a parable, of course, about God’s repeated calls to Israel to join the party that is life in His Kingdom. Finally, in frustration, the King invites strangers and nobodies “both good and bad” from the highways and byways – in other words, the less than holy Jews and even the Gentiles. But then we get a strange twist in the story: one guy’s come to the feast dressed in thongs, a torn T-shirt and dirty old boardies. The King has had enough of all this disrespect. So he gets the bouncers to throw the guy out. You see, even vagabonds in the Kingdom of God are expected to put their best foot forward. Though we might never be completely ready for Christ’s coming at Christmas and at the end of time – or our coming to Him at the end of our lives – we can at least do our bit to prepare ourselves to participate. Even the poor shepherds in the field, received a little catechesis beforehand from the Angels and though they had no gold, frankincense or myrrh to offer, they brought their lambs and carols and adoration.

Which is why God sends us John the Baptist as an invitation card today. It’s to let us know the party’s on, and tells us to get ourselves ready. “Prepare a way for the Lord,” he cries to us in Advent. “Repent and believe the Good News – for the forgiveness of sins.” Smooth out the rough bits in your life-story through contrition, prayer, the sacraments; remove the obstacles of your vices by conversion and the cultivation of virtues in their place; make a straight path for God in your hearts. Dress up for the wedding feast of God’s kingdom, not in a tuxedo or bridal gown, but with integrity and godliness, as our first reading suggested.

How to get the gear that really matters? Paul’s prayer for us today is “that your love for each other may keep increasing, and your knowledge [of God], and your perceptiveness so that you can always recognise what is best.” That, he says, is the way to “prepare yourself for the Day of Christ”, to ready yourself and observe the Advent dress-code. Our hearts are made for loving, our minds for reasoning, our senses for perceiving: so all three are the most natural things in the world for us; yet how easy it is for our affections to go astray, our minds to be warped, our vision to be distorted. Hatred, prejudice, egotism, indifference – you name it – these things unprepare us for Christ’s coming, put up barriers, hills and ravines. But knowing, loving and serving God and His divine image in our fellows: these things ‘smooth out’ the way for Him.

When a religious makes profession of their vows or a new priest is ordained, the Provincial or Bishop uses St Paul’s words from our epistle today: “May the Lord who has begun this good work in you bring it to fulfilment”. But Paul, of course, intended this prayer for all of us. So if we try to dress ourselves in integrity and godliness, if we seek to know, love and serve God and His people, we are making a space for God – and between now and Christmas, now and the end of our lives, now and the end of time, the God, who has begun this good work in us, will bring it to completion.

 

INTRODUCTION TO MASS FOR 2ND SUNDAY ADVENT YEAR C
St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 9 December 2018

Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for the Solemn Mass for the 2nd  Sunday of Advent. Yesterday we celebrated the Sesquicentenary of the laying of the foundation stone for this remarkable basilica. After the fire of 1865 destroyed the first St Mary’s, it took enormous courage and faith in Divine Providence for the mostly poor Catholic community, under the leadership of my venerable predecessor Archbishop Polding, to set about building this monumental cathedral. It is right that we, who have inherited the building they began 150 years ago, should honour their efforts, thank the Lord who brought us together in His Mystical Body, the Church, and seek His blessing on the Catholics of today as we strive to live out our faith and share it with others.

We ended yesterday’s celebration before the statue of Our Lady and the Child Jesus outside the Cathedral On the North-West corner. It was on the facade of the original St Mary’s. With us today is June Baker, who had come into ownership of the statue, but had it restored and returned to the Cathedral in memory of her mother Enid Joyce Baker whose 10th anniversary of death occurs around this time. Each generation has made its contribution to this remarkable cathedral as God’s grace builds up the real church that is the people of God. So let us sweep out the cribs of our hearts so as to make them ready to receive the Baby Jesus at Christmas.