Standing Erect and Raising Our Heads to Meet Christ on this Pilgrimage, First Sunday of Advent (C), November 27, 2021

Fr. Roger J. Landry
Duc in Altum Chapel, Magdala
Leonine Forum Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
First Sunday of Advent, Year C
November 27, 2021
Jer 33:14-16, Ps 25, 1 Thess 3:12-4:2, Lk 21:25-28.34-36

To listen to today’s homily, please click below: 

The outline of today’s homily was:

• Advent is a time in which we prepare to meet Christ in history, mystery and majesty. On this pilgrimage to the Holy Land just begun, we come to meet and retrace Christ’s footsteps in time here in this land; we do so as part of the pilgrimage of life, preparing for his second coming; and we do not just imagine meeting him in the past or the future, but in the present, through prayer, through the Sacraments, and through the modality of each other, those we meet, the faith of the people over the centuries here and more. Coming on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, visiting these sacred spots, makes it possible for us to return with a much-deepened sacramental vision, so that we can more easily see Christ with us everywhere.
• In this Duc in Altum chapel, we are able to focus, through this boat-shaped altar modeled on one discovered here, how Jesus remains in the boat despite the storms of life and calls us, like he called the apostles depicted all around us, to put out into the deep, with trust in him, in our faith and in our sharing of the faith. Here in Magdala we have the chance to ponder what Jesus himself did in the life of Saint Mary Magdalene, casting forth from her seven demons and then becoming the true love of her life, following him faithfully to Calvary, to the empty tomb and the garden, and to the Father’s House. It’s a sign of the total metamorphosis the Lord wants to give each of us.
• The readings for the First Sunday of Advent help orient us how to meet Christ. At the beginning of the Gospel passage, he speaks of disorientation and changes in the sun, moon, and stars, all of which used to help the ancients find their bearings. They’ll all be convulsed, together with the waves, but then we will “see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Jesus wants to become the one who gives us total direction, who orients our entire life. He gives us four verbs to do so, which helps us not just in Advent, not just on pilgrimage, but in life:
  • “Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand” —  We should lift up our heads, our hearts, our whole existence to our Redeemer. It’s common for us to be weighed down by the things of this world. Like the woman in St. Luke’s Gospel who for 18 years was bent over and incapable of standing up straight, whom Jesus healed on the Sabbath in a synagogue, we often don’t take our eyes off the ground. We focus on our worries; we obsess about what weighs us down. As we prepare to meet Jesus in many new ways on this pilgrimage and renew our orientation of following him on pilgrimage all the way to the Father’s house, he tells us to get up and raise our minds to him, our hearts to him, and souls to him, with all our strength. Our redemption is at hand and he wants us to seize it.
  • “Be vigilant” — Elsewhere in the Gospel, Jesus gave a parable about his second coming in which he contrasted the faithful and prudent steward who awaited his Master’s return and faithfully fed himself and others with the nourishment the Master provided versus the unfaithful and stupid servant who said “My Master is long delayed” and began to get smashed and to abuse the servants under his care. We remember that when Jesus came into the world the first time, some people were vigilant, prayerful and ready, but most people were not. Mary Immaculate was ready and said a hearty “yes” to God’s will. St. Joseph was ready and therefore capable of adapting quickly to God’s mysterious plans. The shepherds were ready, vigilant at night, and ran to Bethlehem as soon as they heard the good news of great joy. The Magi were ready, so ready in fact that they were able to discern the newborn king’s presence through the presence of a star. The star still shines and has brought us here. Jesus wants us to be alert for every way he comes to us, to recognize his presence, to faithfully feed ourselves and others with the gifts he provides.
  • “Pray that you have the strength to escape the imminent tribulations” — He tells us to pray, and specifically to pray that we have the strength to escape the imminent tribulations and to stand before him. He is quite realistic about temptations and our need for strength in the face of them. We remember what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus took Peter, James and John apart from the others to pray with him. He instructed them, “Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Their weak flesh, however, won out. They didn’t stay awake and pray but fell asleep. And when the soldiers came for Jesus, they all failed the test. To remain strong under trial, we must remain with God, and we remain with God in prayer. Prayer wakes us up to see that God is alive and is with us. It helps us to escape caving into tribulations but to convert them into opportunities to give witness and glorify God. A pilgrimage is a moving retreat full of prayer.
  • “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life” — To let our hearts become drowsy through worldly pleasures and anxieties is the opposite of standing erect and raising our heads, the contrary to vigilance and prayer. The way Jesus does not want to live is to let our hearts fall asleep by seeking worldly pleasures, or being eaten alive by worries, or by anaesthetizing our existence through drunkenness or other addictive escapes. This obsession about pleasure and pain and on escaping keeps us from concentrating on Jesus. We can’t lift our hearts up to the Lord if the heart is asleep. Some people go on pilgrimage and worry too much about what troubles them back home. Others will stay up too late and have another drink and perhaps another. I’d urge you, with Jesus’ own admonition, to beware that your hearts that he wants to raise up remain raised up, rather than taking on the types of thorns he describes in the Parable of the Sower and the Seed.
• The great way we prepare to meet Christ any way he comes is here at Mass, when we hear him speak to us and then we receive Him as the Word made flesh within. Let us ask him today as we begin this pilgrimage to help us stand erect, with hearts and heads up lifted, with renewed awareness and a spirit of prayer, with lives inebriated by his grace.

The readings for today’s Mass were:

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