Fr. Roger J. Landry
Conversations with Consequences Podcast
Homily for the First Sunday of Advent (B)
November 28, 2020
To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below:
The text that guided the homily is:
- This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday, when we begin a new liturgical year. Sometimes Christians find this a little strange, that in the Church New Year’s Day begins on the First Sunday of Advent, rather than about a month from now, but that’s an indication that most of us take our cues more from balls dropping in Times Square or months decreed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC than by the liturgical year that traces the life of Christ from the time when the Jews anxiously awaited his appearance (Advent proper) to ultimately his return in glory, which we celebrated last week with the Solemnity of Christ the King. Jesus said to us over and again in the Gospel, “Follow me!” and each liturgical year we do just that, tracing his footsteps along the route of salvation history, trying to become more and more like him whom we’re following. The liturgical year is not a “same old, same old,” but something that helps us to enter into the mysteries we celebrate far more profoundly than the last time. Like re-reading a great book or watching anew a classic movie, each retracing of the life of Christ is supposed to reveal to us elements we haven’t seen before and remind us of important things that we once knew but have forgotten about the mystery of God, his love for us, and his hopes and plans for us. This is another time for us to enter into the life of Christ, to accompany him and be accompanied by him as we live the events of his earthly life and heavenly reality. This may be the last liturgical year we have, because we never know the day or the hour. So let’s make the most of this one and begin it well.
- Jesus speaks to us very clearly in the Gospel this Sunday about how he wants us to start and live this year. He uses two sets of verbs. The first has to do with our alertness. “Wake up!” he shouts. “Stay awake!” he adds. The second set of verbs involves what we’re supposed to do when we’re awake. “Be constantly on guard!” “Be on the watch!” He says in the Gospel that we should be like porters, like door openers. … “He leaves home and places his servant in charge, which with his own task; and he orders the man at the gate to watch with a sharp eye. Look around you! You do not know when the master of the house is coming… Do not let him come suddenly and catch you asleep.” Jesus wants us to be like door-keepers who are always awake and on guard.
- Here in Manhattan where I live, many of the residences have doormen, just like hotels in most parts of the country. The doormen are really quite professional. There are two parts to their job. The first is that they are always on the lookout for the arrival of any resident or guest. As soon as they see one arriving, they open the door. If the residents are returning from a trip or shopping, they help with the bags and other ways needed. But they also have a second job: namely to prevent those who shouldn’t be entering from doing so, something that in an age of terrorism and riots is also crucial.
- 5) Jesus calls us to be spiritual porters, to be door-keepers. This involves the same two tasks. The first is to be awake and alert to welcome Jesus from wherever and whenever he comes. To go out and meet him when we see he’s coming, as we like to say, in history, mystery and majesty. We focus on meeting him in Bethlehem in the celebration of Christ. We focus on meeting him when he comes at the end of time or at the end of our life, whichever comes first. We focus on meeting him in the Eucharist, in prayer, in Sacred Scripture, in the various disguises he takes, in the poor, the sick, the lonely, those imprisoned, those we might consider our enemies, in those around us right now, even in the priest speaking to you on his behalf right now. We’re called to be awake and alert for his presence at all times, and to open up the door when comes and allow him to enter. As he says in the Book of Revelation, “Behold I stand at the door knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.” We’re called to meet him with joy, with great loving expectation, and let him come into our hearts, into our lives. We are in reality Temples of the Holy Spirit. God wants to dwell within. We’re called to open up our hearts to him so that he can come and dwell within. But the door only has one handle, and it’s on the inside.
- The second task we have as porters is to lock the door to those who shouldn’t enter, who want to enter to do damage, harm and destroy. The first thing we have to lock it to is the devil, who seeks to come into the temple of the Holy Spirit we’re called to be with the Lord inside and wreak all types of havoc. The devil often comes in disguise. So we have to be on our guard. The second thing we have to be on guard to lock out is related to this. It’s sin and those who want to lead us to sin. There are certain people whose presence takes us from God. It’s not that they’re necessarily evil people, but whether it be their polluted language, exaggerated worldliness, or especially their desire to have us engage in sinful activity with them, we have to be on the lookout, like a good porter at the White House.
- We might add that there’s a third thing a doorman needs to do. Even if he did a good job of welcoming residents and guests, even if he superbly kept out those who shouldn’t enter, he likewise needs to keep the entrance clean and swept. So do we as spiritual doormen. Like Jesus cleansed the Temple, so we need to clean our souls. And Jesus wants to help us with that through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
- Advent is meant to be a time of spiritual reawakening, of spiritual rebirth, as we return to what should be the proper foundation of our life — Christ himself — and build our life on him. We have to get up from any spiritual somnolence and stay alert in prayer. We have to get excited for the coming of the Lord and set our hearts on him. The candles of the Advent wreath, for example, show our growing hunger for God week by week. And we have to get moving, journeying out to meet Emmanuel, our Divine Messiah, who comes. Advent is like the gun at the start of a race that gets us to begin a spiritual sprint, to go with haste, to meet Christ. As this new liturgical year begins, after some very difficult months for all of us, let us respond to God’s help to make this year the best spiritual year of our life, a true year of the Lord.
The Gospel on which this homily was based was:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”
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