First for Advent

Simply waiting

My most recent Visa bill was paid off this week.  Last week, I found myself doing the calculations to see whether there would indeed be enough money in the account so that when the due date arrived, the bill could be paid without having to worry about overdraft charges increasing the debt.  With a little ingenuity, and a bit of planning, the money was indeed there, and then as if by magic, it wasn’t: you see the Visa bill was paid, and the remnants of my account are now left to live another day.  How many of us face this same dilemma each month?  I heard this week that one of the major Canadian banks posted its year-end profits: the largest profits they have ever posted.  I couldn’t help wondering where such wealth has been manufactured.  Then I began to think: banks make their money by lending, either through mortgages or loans, and if the bank has reported record profits, that must mean that there are a record number of mortgages and loans being held by the bank’s customers.

Think about it for a moment:  In the malls, there are more and more throngs of people and it seems to become more and more difficult these days to get into and out of the parking lots, much less to find a parking space.  If that weren’t enough, major sales were announced for Black Friday, and for days now there have been further ‘deals’ announced for online shoppers in relation to Cyber Monday.  For many it seems, the search is on in the coming weeks to find the perfect gift for parents, siblings, loved ones and children.  If we were to allow it, the secular world around us would quickly envelop us.  The Season of Advent would all but disappear, and we would become ensnared in the trappings of materialism that is so often thinly veiled behind words such as Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays … but wait, I’m getting cynical.

What if the world around us preached a different gospel?  Would this be a different place if instead of allowing our hearts to become drowsy and preoccupied by the anxieties of daily life, we were to concentrate our efforts on looking for the Son of Man?  In today’s first reading, the prophet Jeremiah speaks of a just shoot that will spring up, a tender promise of new life which will come out of the rubble and clutter left in the wake of the world around us.  The trouble is that this promise of new life can easily be overlooked and possibly even plucked out of the soil like a weed if we are not watching for it.

And so dear friends, I have a challenge for you.  In the next four weeks, the time the Church devotes to the Season of Advent, concentrate on finding ways to keep this holy season of waiting alive.  Is it possible for us to temper the temptation to fall victim to the consumerist mentality with purposefully concentrating on finding ways to increase and abound in love for one another and for all?

Waiting can indeed have the appearance of being a simple activity, but I assure you that it’s not easy.  The world around us is working very diligently at making us believe that we must seek instant gratifications for our desires, but in the end, immediate answers are far too often shallow and fleeting.  Even if the Visa bill gets paid off this month, there will always be another Visa bill to be paid.

To help us concentrate our efforts on conducting ourselves in a manner pleasing to God, let us aim to abound in love toward all those we meet.  As we prepare to celebrate the birthday of our Savior, let us constantly be on the lookout for opportunities to hope, even in the face of apparent despair.  Let us set our sights on joy wherever and whenever it can be found: in the gathering of family and friends, in the sharing of conversations and laughter and in the simple moments of grace that so often are missed along the way.  Finally, let us be attentive to the call of our God to preach the gospel of peace by our actions and our attitudes, and if necessary through our words.  Love, hope, joy and peace: the gifts of our God during this Advent season are offered to each of us.  Should we not share them so that our world might remember and celebrate them too?