Isaiah 40:31 says that “Those that wait upon the Lord, will renew their strength and they shall mount up with wings like eagles”. This invitation from Isaiah is an invitation to wait upon the Lord with hope. The same can be said about the Advent season. Advent is a season that invites us all to prepare and wait with hope for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we prepare with hope for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Mother Church invites us to three very important things. Firstly, our mother Church invites us all to gaze contemplatively upon the kind of world we have today, in the same manner, that the three divine persons gazed upon the world in that contemplation of the second week of the Spiritual Exercises (SpEx #102). Gazing upon the kind of world we have today, what do we see? We see a world that is lost in sin, a world that is full of oppression and injustice, one sees a world where those in authority abuse their authority at will, one sees a world that is ravaged by wars, pandemics, and climate change.
The realities that one encounters after a contemplative gaze on the world, invite us to form one conclusion. This is the conclusion that the world needs a savior. Isn’t this what Jesus comes to do at Christmas which is the culmination of the Advent season. Jesus Christ comes to be born and to walk with and among his people. Those who are lost in sin, those who are oppressed and are suffering injustices, those who are undergoing different forms of abuse from those in authority, and yes those whose who are infected and affected by the different diseases and pandemics in the world today. To save such a world and its people is what Jesus Christ announces in his principle and foundation, in the Gospel of Luke “The spirit of the Lord is upon me and the Lord has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4:18).
The second thing that we are invited to in this Advent season, is to be representatives of Jesus Christ to his people, especially the poor. We are invited to be the voice of one crying in the wilderness and to make straight the way of the Lord. This is a call to be voices of hope and voices of comfort to God’s people. We are invited as Christs’ representative to announce to Gods people that the valleys of sin will be leveled, the valleys of oppression and injustice will be leveled, the valleys of abuse of authority will be leveled and yes, the valleys of climate change, diseases, and pandemics will be leveled. To announce such a message is to have a share in Christ’s mission which is “the service of faith for which the promotion of justice and reconciliation is an absolute requirement” (GC 32.D4).
The third invitation in this Advent season is an invitation to be good Shepherds to God’s people. To have a genuine heart and love towards the service of God’s people, especially the poor. Christ the good Shepherd whom we imitate in his genuineness of heart and love lays down his life for his Sheep (John 10:11). Indeed, the Shepherd must smell like the sheep, the good Shepherd finds a way to remain with and among the sheep even in times of war, oppression, and pandemics. This is a challenge to all of us that as good Shepherds, we must not behave in the same manner as hired personnel, the hired person sees the wolf and abandons the sheep (John 10:12). We have several wolves in our world today, these wolves are no longer on four legs but appear to the Shepherd in the form of different variants of Covid -19. In the face of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the good Shepherd must never abandon the sheep, rather the good Shepherd must reflectively ask himself or herself the three fundamental questions. What have I done for God’s people during this pandemic of Covid-19? What am I doing for God’s people during this pandemic Covid-19? What ought I to do for God’s people during this Covid-19 pandemic? (SpEx #53).
And so, as we prepare our hearts, and wait in hope for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us remember the three important invitations that are before us this Advent season. First to gaze contemplatively on our world today. Second, to be God’s representatives to his people, as we prepare the way for the Lord and his coming. Third, to be good Shepherds of God’s people as we walk in solidarity with and among the poor. I wish you all a blessed Advent season.