Advent enables us to navigate life better

Homily for November 27, 2016 (First Sunday of Advent)
Isaiah 2:1-6; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44

This past week I was in Mumbai (Bombay) to visit the Capuchin friars of that area at the request of our General Minister.  It was my first visit to India, a country of about 1 billion people with an economy that is rapidly growing.   Mumbai is a dynamic city with an estimated population of over 22 million.  It is one of the largest cities in the world, and like many of them (including those in the USA) it is a study in contrasts:  great wealth and grinding poverty, gleaming downtowns and teeming slums, widespread mobile phone and internet access and congested and chaotic streets.

Mumbai is a place of great challenges but even greater hope and possibilities.  That’s why so many people keep migrating to it.  The season of Advent is similarly a time of challenge, hope and possibility.  It invites us to take up the challenge, live in hope, imagine and work to make real what now is merely possible.

That task is timeless.  The early Christian community had to grapple with the dilemma of how to live in the light of what many believed was the Lord’s immanent return and the end of the world.  For some it was a preoccupation.  In recalling the teachings of Jesus, Luke wanted them to pay less attention to the future and focus more on the present. What was needed was neither complacency nor anxiety but rather alertness and preparation—less Dies Irae and more Carpe diem!

But seizing the day, St. Paul admonished the church at Rome in our second reading, is not an excuse for license but rather an opportunity for excellence—for throwing off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light.  His image of putting on the Lord Jesus was meant to recall the robes of baptism.   In accepting those robes, those initiated into the church and discipleship were also accepting an invitation and making a statement.   Very simply, their lives would have to be different.  They were to think, speak and act as disciples of Jesus—a lifetime commitment.

During my stay in India I was privileged to celebrate an early morning Mass at the local parish in a makeshift church that stood next to a larger one undergoing expansion and renovation—a sign of the dynamism of the Catholic community there.  I received outstanding hospitality from the friars not only in Mumbai but also in Pune. Perhaps the biggest blessing, however, was Kamil, our driver.    Whether he was navigating the truck-clogged highways or the warren of ancient city streets, he drove with a skill and intuition that were remarkable.  May this season of Advent be a time that our skill and intuition in living the gospel will enable us to better navigate life—this one and the one to come. “Show us, Lord, your love; and grant us your salvation.” +