The Three Comings of Christ in the Advent Season of Hope - St. Peter's ChurchSt. Peter's Church

This past week, as part of my preparations for Advent, I re-watched a movie that came out a few years ago called The Star. In a way that is strangely accurate for a Hollywood movie, it tells the story of the first coming of Christ. The movie begins with the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel to Mary, when she receives the news that she will be the Virgin Mother of the Christ child. It presents how difficult it was for Mary and Joseph to understand the task that had been entrusted to them to be mother and guardian of the Messiah and the extremely difficult circumstances that they undergo as the Christ child is born. As Mary and Joseph are forced to leave their home of Nazareth and go to Bethlehem to register for the census that has been called for by Caesar Augustus, we see that even for the Holy Family, life at times was very difficult. The movie also presents the story of the three Magi and the jealousy that King Herod had when he heard that a new king was to be born in his territory. He sent out soldiers to destroy the child and prevent him from reigning within his kingdom. The movie tells of the many shepherds and animals that are led to the simple birth place of the Messiah by a great star that lights up the skies and a heavenly choir.

One of the themes that keeps recurring in the movie is how difficult it is for even the Holy Family, and those who are called to recognize the Christ child, to believe that this little child is actually the Messiah that was longed for by the Jewish people to set them free. The movie shows that Mary cannot believe that she has been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah; Joseph does not understand how he will be worthy of the task of being the Lord’s guardian; and those who refuse the Holy Family a room in the inn cannot see that the child to be born to Mary is really the Son of God. As the Christ child is born in a barn and a stable, it is a small few who are given the grace of recognizing that the child born into this poverty is the same Messiah that will save all of humanity from death and sin. This movie about the First Coming of Christ shows us how difficult it was for those who were actually a part of Christ’s birth to see Christ when he came the first time. It should not, therefore, be a surprise to us that we too can find it difficult to see Christ coming to us in our difficulties or to be ready for Him as we look to His Second Coming at the end of time.

As I mentioned last weekend in the homily, the Liturgical Year ended last Sunday with the celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King. At the end of the Liturgical Year, we celebrate that Christ will come at the end of time as the victorious King who will rule over heaven and earth. We begin the new Liturgical Year this Sunday with a Gospel passage that also tells us that we must watch for the final coming of the Lord by being always ready to meet Him. The Second Coming of Christ at the end of time will come at a time that we know not. As we prepare to celebrate Christ’s First Coming, we are also reminded that this same Christ will come at the end of time to bring all of us to Himself. We are to be ready to meet Him by being prepared to see Him in our present situations and in those who are sent to us to see the face of Christ. Many of the early Church Fathers spoke about the poverty of the Manger and the wood of the crib pointing to the poverty that Christ would suffer in His crucifixion on the wood of the Cross. Jesus came into the world and was laid on the poverty of the wood of the crib and went out of the world with nothing as he lay on the wood of the Cross. Both when He was in the crib as a small child, and when He was on the Cross as a condemned criminal, it was difficult to see that He was God in these situations and truly believe that He was the Messiah. Only those who were gifted with a deep faith could recognize that Jesus was God and that by faith in Him they could be saved. It was a challenge for those who encountered the Christ child to believe that he truly was the Messiah; it was a challenge for those who saw Christ on the Cross to believe that He was the Messiah; it can be a challenge for all of us today to believe that Christ is with us in our trials and difficulties. This is one of the key challenges for our Advent preparations: to believe that the same Christ child wishes to come to us today to meet us in our difficulties to be with us as we wait for His Second Coming in Glory. Advent is that season of Hope in which we are called to believe that Christ is with us today. Christians are called to be that people of Hope that believe in the three comings of Christ. We are to believe that Christ came as a child and was born in the Manger. We are to believe that He will come at His Second Coming to judge the living and the dead. These two comings of Christ, most of us Christians accept and believe in. It is the third coming of Christ that can be for many of us the greatest challenge. We are called to believe that Christ comes to us today in a third coming. We are challenged by Advent to believe that Jesus wishes to be born into our midst today and be present to us in the poverty of our own lives. Advent calls us to Hope that the Lord can and will be with us today.

Whenever there is an end of time Gospel, there is a story that I love to tell. I know I have already told it in this parish. It has to do with an incident that took place in 1999. I was attending the priests’ retreat for the Archdiocese at St. Augustine’s Seminary. One night, I was out for a walk and I met one of the other priests on the retreat. As we walked along Kingston Road, he got very excited about telling me that the world was going to end on January 1, 2000. He had all sorts of theories about how that was going to take place. As he explained to me how the end was going to come about, I was actually a little concerned about how gleeful he seemed about all these events. I kind of got the feeling he was delighted all this was going to take place. As he spoke about how this was going to take place in the future, he almost stepped out in front of a car as we got to the intersection of Midland and Kingston Roads. I had to pull him back from walking out into the car. He was so excited about how he thought the world was going to end, that he almost met and missed his own end. Why I think this story is important is because it shows how many of us can miss what is in front of us. We can get trapped in our own way of thinking, our own problems, anxieties or obsessions and miss Christ as He comes to us. Today’s readings are challenging us to Hope and believe that Christ is coming to us today. We are to watch for His coming in our midst today and by meeting Him today, we will be ready to meet Him at the end of time. In order that we might be able to meet Christ as He comes to us today, and be ready to meet Him when he comes at His Second Coming, I think there is a great deal that we can learn from His First Coming and those who were prepared to meet Him on that First Christmas.

In this regard, Mary, who is the first Christian and the model of all Christian life, gives us the perfect example of an Advent person who shows us how we are to live in Hope for Christ’s coming to us in our present situation. Mary’s greatest attribute is that she is a person of faith. She believes the promises that are made to her. She Hopes that the promises that are made to her will be fulfilled. Mary could not explain how the Christ child was going to be present to her and in the difficult situations she was to confront. She had no idea how she would explain to Joseph that she was with child or how she would care for the Son of God. Despite this she believed that God’s word would be fulfilled. How often do we believe that God’s word will be fulfilled for us? I have been amazed at how people’s lives can be changed simply by faith. I have seen women and men persevere through addictions, difficult situations and losses only because they hoped that God’s word would be fulfilled for them. Through this hope, there lives were transformed and they came out the other side confident of God’s love for them. Advent is a time to believe that through patient Hope God will fulfill the promises He has made to us—some day in His time. Advent calls us to Hope that Christ will be born for us today in our trials and difficulties.

Both Mary and Joseph show us that Hope is expressed by giving our “yes” to God. We may not understand how things are going to work out, or where we are supposed to go, but by giving our “yes” to God we trust Him and His grace to bring Christ’s presence into our lives and difficulties. We see how Mary’s “yes” allowed her heart to be filled with the Holy Spirit and Christ to dwell with her. One day at a time, we are called to do the same. We may not know how to give our “yes” to God in each situation that presents itself, but this is why Jesus has taught us how to pray in the words of the “Our Father.” In this prayer, we trust that God will give us each day the grace that we need to do His will and see His face in our lives. Mary believed that she was God’s beloved daughter and that He would not forget His promises to her. When we pray the “Our Father” and call God “Our Father,” we express the confidence that we are His beloved children and that He will not let us down. In this same prayer, we ask that we might give our “yes” to God and do His will in the same way that Mary did. Although at times we may have no idea how God’s will is to be fulfilled in our praying this prayer, we express our trust and hope that it will be fulfilled. The message of scripture is that God will be faithful to those who place their trust in Him.

Advent is the season of the Three Comings of Christ. We prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ at His First Coming. During Advent we are reminded that the same Christ child that was born in a manger will also come at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. It is the season of Hope because it calls us to be ready to meet Christ when he comes at the end of time by watching with Hope to encounter Him today in our difficulties and trials along our pilgrim journey. In Advent we Hope that God will come and be with us today, as he was with Mary and Joseph. Like Mary and Joseph, we may have no idea how Christ will be with us in the trials of our lives, but through faith and Hope we trust Him to fulfill His promises. Our personal faith is the door which allows Christ to act and be born into our present moments and to manifest His third coming in our midst. Through faith we posses the Hope that permits Christ to act in our lives. Saint John Henry Newman wrote a beautiful poem about his own faith and hope that God would be with him in his trials on the journey of life. I would like to conclude with it. As we light the candles of our Advent wreath and think of the light that will grow as we approach the birth of the Lord, this is perhaps a good image for the light of Christ that we hope will illumine our own Advent celebrations and preparations. The poem is called “Lead Kindly, Light.”

Lead, Kindly Light

Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on.
Keep Thou my feet;
I do not ask to see the distant scene;
one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that
Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, pride ruled my will;
remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.