The Main Emphasis of Advent
Homily of Father William Lloyd Ryan
December 3, 1995
Today we begin the season of Advent. It is a short period of a few weeks during which we are encouraged to prepare our souls for Christmas. This is a spiritual preparation, in contrast to the other preparations and activities that the world promotes. For it is the birth of Christ that we are preparing to commemorate, and He came into this world for a strictly spiritual purpose- to redeem and save our souls. It is only right then that the main emphasis of Advent be a spiritual one- improving the condition of our souls.
We know of course that there are other preparations that are required and are legitimate. But we must not let ourselves be caught up in these other preparations to such an extent that we consider them as important as, or more important than, our spiritual preparations. The Church in her Masses and prayers during this season will give us some instructions to help us in our efforts to improve spiritually.
Today, she reminds us of the end of the world, and we should also think of the end of our own life here on earth and our entry into eternity. Where we will spend our eternity is a most important question which we should keep before us. What does anything else matter if we lose our souls. This should be a daily consideration.
And we should think, not only of our own soul, but we should have a great desire and zeal to help in saving the souls of others. This was why Jesus came- to save souls. It was the reason for His Birth, His life, and His death. Hanging on the Cross He cried out “I thirst.” He thirsted for souls.
If we can grow in our desire for the salvation of souls, and increase our prayers for them, as part of our Advent preparation, Our Lord will be very pleased with us. We will be trying, in a very small way, to imitate Him who came on earth to sacrifice Himself totally for the souls of all men. If all of us here make praying for the salvation of souls a very important part of our Advent program, what a wonderful preparation that will be for Christmas, and how many souls we will help to save.
The spiritual climate of the world today is cold. It is not conducive to our love for others, or sacrifices, or holiness of life- all the beautiful things that our Lord came into the world to bring to us. But we can call to mind that our Lord also came into a world that was cold and unfriendly. Here is how St. John, in his Gospel, describes our Lord’s coming, “He came in to His own, and His own received Him not.” The world, and even His own people, the “Chosen people of God,” were taken up with their worldly affairs.
And so, there is the sad situation of a people who for centuries had been looking forward to the Coming of the Messiah, not willing to accept and receive Him, when He came. Worldly concerns had become their main preoccupation. They were not willing to recognize a Messiah whose purpose in coming was to win for them, not worldly gain, but eternal salvation. And so, we read this sad line in St. John’s Gospel “He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” But then St. John continues, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become sons of God,” to be changed and to share, in some way at least, in the very likeness of God. And it is the same today. To all who welcome Him into their lives, our Lord gives the same gift-to become sons of God. He gives them special Graces, He unites them to Himself, He lets them share, at least in some way, in His Goodness.
So, this should be our goal during Advent- to make ourselves more worthy to welcome our Savior into our hearts and souls at Christmas. To welcome Him into our souls, we must try and empty our souls of our sins and faults and our worldly attachments- anything that would prevent our Lord from coming into our lives, in a special way. We know from the Gospels that our Lord had a great love for the poor in spirit, for the humble of heart, for the meek, for the merciful. We too can strive for these virtues, that we may bring upon ourselves His special Graces and Blessings, as we celebrate His Birth.
To grow in virtue is our life’s work. But during Advent we have an added incentive to make greater efforts to further this work, for we do want to welcome our Lord in the very best way that we can. And so, let all of us look on these weeks of Advent as a very important time. Let us make it a time of prayer, meditating often on the mystery of Christ’s incarnation, and the great love for us that brought Him here on earth to redeem us. Let us attend Mass daily, if this is at all possible. Let us receive the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion with great devotion and gratitude. Let us offer some acts of penance as proof of our love for our Saviour.
Advent then will be for us a truly blessed season, and we can be confident that our Lord will be most generous with His Graces for us as we celebrate the Joyful Feast of His Birth.
