Breaking Open the Word - 1st Sunday of Advent, Year B
1st Sunday of Advent, Year B — November 29th, 2020
Happy New Year – a new liturgical year, that is! In Year B, which began this Sunday, Holy Mother Church asks her children to dive deeper into the Gospel of Mark. While this is the shortest of the four Gospels, it is nevertheless incredibly rich and offers plenty of material for our prayer and reflection this year. We hope you are as eager to explore it as we are!
Our sharing this Sunday began with a question about our Gospel reading. A Sister noted that only one person in the “mini-parable” of the man on a journey is actually commanded to watch, and that person is the gatekeeper. So, the question naturally arises: who is the gatekeeper? We came up with several interpretations, each giving a unique insight into Our Lord’s words. First, one Sister suggested that the gatekeeper could be seen as the magisterium and hierarchy of the Church, which is tasked with reading the “signs of the times” and reminding the faithful to keep Christ’s second coming in mind.
Another possible interpretation is that contemplative religious are the “gatekeepers.” In his Apostolic Exhortation Vultum Dei Quaerere, Pope Francis encourages nuns around the world to be “sentinels of the dawn,” constantly watching for the coming of the Bridegroom. Our life of continual prayer serves as a reminder to the rest of the Church of the primacy of God and the reality that Christ will come again. While the second coming of Christ is certainly what we anticipate and await most eagerly, we are also dedicated to recognizing the hidden ways in which the Lord comes to us every day. The “contemplative outlook,” as Pope St. John Paul II called it, is a precious part of our lives that enables us to recognize and welcome God in the circumstances of daily life, so that we are more prepared to welcome Him at the end of time. This treasure can be our gift to the world, as by example and through our contacts with others (for our community, especially through our retreat house), we teach them to share the “contemplative outlook.”
A third application of the gatekeeper image focuses on the individual human person. The various powers or faculties of our soul (intellect, imagination, memory, emotion, etc.) are the different “servants” that are called to be ready for Christ’s coming. However, the faculty that is called to be the “gatekeeper” is the will. Even if our mind is wandering, our emotions are unruly, or our imagination is more of a hindrance than a help in prayer and vigilance, our will can keep us firmly turned towards God. Gradually, with sustained effort and the help of grace, our less cooperative spiritual faculties come more and more under the control of our will, and the consequence is greater freedom in loving the Lord. Those Saints who have reached transforming union with God show us how beautiful this inner harmony is!
“Oh, that You would rend the Heavens and come down!”
We also discussed the First Reading from Isaiah, Israel’s passionate plea for the Lord to “rend the heavens and come down” to rescue His sinful and suffering people. Twice in this passage there is the most touching plea for mercy by calling God “our Father”. We as Christians, who recite the Lord’s Prayer with ease, can sometimes lose sight of how powerful a statement this is. God, the almighty One, the Thrice-Holy, the King of the Universe, is our Father? Truly, a mystery deserving of our greatest reverence and awe!
One Sister drew out the similarities between this reading and similar passages from Daniel, Esther, Tobit, and other books of the Old Testament. In these laments, the people come before God in their utter poverty, confessing their sins as well as their utter helplessness and inability to save themselves. Yet, after presenting the Lord with their dire plight, the people then “hope against hope” and beg for mercy based not on their own (nonexistent!) righteousness, but on God’s goodness. They lean not on their worthiness, but on God’s fidelity to His covenant. We would do well to learn from this beautiful lesson of confidence – after all, Scripture and the lives of the Saints show that it wins over God’s heart every time!