Fr. Gabriel Mosher: Use Advent as a time to ‘prepare a new place for our Lord in our hearts’
DRAPER — The Advent season is a time to recall the events of the past, of Israel’s prophecies about a Messiah and the birth of Christ in a manager in Bethlehem, “but we’re also looking forward” to the second coming of Christ, said Father Gabriel Mosher, O.P., pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish and Newman Center in Salt Lake City, during his presentation for the diocesan Advent reflection, held Dec. 9 at Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Draper.
During Advent, “We must take special care to make the space necessary to prepare for” the coming of Christ at Christmas, Fr. Gabriel said, suggesting that those present read the passages from the Old and New Testaments dealing with the coming of the Messiah.
As “we stop and consider what it means for God to become man for us, then we begin to understand – what we discover – is that we worship a God who loves me. Not merely a God who loves us,” not a God who only loves all creation and all people, but a God who loves each one individually, he said. “God is a personal God. He desires to be in relation to each of us.”
Fr. Gabriel suggested that Christians should take St. Paul’s advice to pray always, but this can be difficult, he said, and point out that Catholic theology identifies three things that can “draw us away” from the dream of eternal life with God: the world, the flesh and the devil.
God created the world and also man as a being of both flesh and spirit, and these are good, Fr. Gabriel said, but people must guard against excesses such as focusing exclusively on worldly success or gluttony.
God must be at the top of the hierarchy of loves, he said. “One of the things we have to do during this Advent season is to put our loves in right order, and in this life, developing that loving relationship to God can be difficult; it can be extremely difficult.”
He suggested people meditate on Scripture and the lives of the saints “so we see this relationship in action. As we do that, we come to know who this God is more perfectly, and as we come to know him, it’s much easier to love him because we cannot love that which we do not know.”
To prevent being distracted by the devil, Fr. Gabriel said, “Staying united as a People of God is the principle way we defeat the wiles of the enemy.”
Advent is a time to meditate on and prepare for eternal life with God, he said.
“If that’s our hope, then what must we do to obtain that?” he asked, and answered the question by saying people must develop a relationship with and knowledge of God and therefore a love of God. They also must assiduously practice the virtues, “and as we see the fruits of that, then we begin to experience joy,” he said.
Doing corporal and spiritual works of mercy help discipline people so they are not dependent upon the cheap consolations found in the world or in the flesh, but instead they can seek real joy, “the joy that is found in the attainment of a relationship with God and the assiduous practice of the virtues. Always keeping our vision focused on the heavenly realities – [this is] why we are doing these things,” he said.
However, “We do not do these things to earn heaven” or the love of God, he said, because “that is impossible. We must understand” that God has opened up the gates of heaven, and “we do not earn the privilege of heaven. It is a gift. ... We can chose to lose it by our actions, but we can’t gain it by our actions.”
Doing good things is a response to God’s love, a sign of people loving God back, he said.
During Advent, “Let us rise up and prepare a new place for the Lord in the world but, more importantly, a new place for our Lord in our hearts so that we grow in faith, hope and love. … [and] we are ready for his coming at Christmas and for all eternity,” Fr. Gabriel said as he concluded his talk.
Fr. Gabriel gave the reflection in English. Father Rogelio Felix-Rosas, administrator of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Logan, presented the Spanish reflection with the theme “Next to Mary, the first sanctuary of humankind.” This image of Mary comes from St. Ephrem, a Syrian theologian who lived in the fourth century. “There is a big connection between Mary and the Holy Eucharist, and that’s one of the things I want you to get out of this day,” Fr. Felix-Rosas said to the more than 200 Hispanic Catholics gathered at the church for the presentation.
“Mary will always guide us to the right path in our lives no matter the challenges; she is always patient and shows how Jesus is our bread and strength,” he said at the conclusion of his presentation.
Prior to Fr. Gabriel’s presentation, Ruth Dillon, director of the diocesan Office of Worship, asked the audience to “take a moment to reflect on the many gifts God has given us, including the ability to have a wonderful chance to gather and to reflect upon the meaning of Advent and what that means in our lives, and how it can change us if we let it.”
About 100 people attended the presentation in person; about the same number attended virtually, Dillon said.
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