Response to Advent

Friday, Dec. 09, 2016

Jesus calls us to help those in need, to welcome the stranger. Pope Francis urges us to help bring about the Kingdom of God in this world. Here in our local Church, I’m surrounded by Catholics who live out their baptismal call to be models of love, to be servant leaders, to be speakers of truth and justice, and yet I hesitate, because I’m not strong enough or brave enough or smart enough to step out of my own safe little cocoon.

But this is Advent, the beginning of a new year, and I’m trying to make a fresh start by being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. For inspiration I look to Pope Francis, who said, “When we welcome the Holy Spirit in our hearts, Christ himself becomes present in us and takes form in our lives. Through us and our actions, it will be he who prays and forgives, gives hope and consolation, serves our brothers, helps those in need and helps spread communion and peace.”

Pope Francis encourages action: pray, forgive, give, serve, help; there is no room for shrinking back into a corner, hoping the Holy Spirit will pass by without so much as a glance in my direction. 

If the Holy Father’s words weren’t enough, Sunday’s Gospel reminded me that I must produce good fruit. So heart in throat I’m stepping out. It wasn’t hard to find ways to become active: Two events from last week’s email immediately suggested themselves for participation. 

Therefore, on Saturday I’ll go to the open house at the Maryam Mosque as a way to “spread communion and peace.” Then, on Sunday, I’ll attend the interfaith prayer vigil at All Saints Episcopal Church honoring victims of gun violence, to pray for those who have been wounded or killed by guns, and also to ask that God show us a way to end this sort of violence in our world.

These efforts are nothing grand, but they’re at least a step toward putting my faith in action. I’m already encouraged because just as I was writing this paragraph, I received a link to an article about Father Alfred Delp, a German Jesuit who was executed by the Gestapo in 1945 for resisting the Nazis. In his homily for the First Sunday of Advent in 1943, Fr. Delp said, “Man is not permitted to fixate himself too much within his own sphere of life, settling himself too firmly in place until he is chased away. … The character of life is to keep going, to keep a lookout, and to endure until the vigilant heart of man and the heart of God who meets us come together…”

Fr. Delp describes me precisely here: firmly settled. In my protected sphere of work and home I’m not exposed to racial or religious persecution, and neither I nor any of my immediate family have ever been affected by gun violence. However, Jesus doesn’t tell me to protect my own little cocoon, he calls me to help those in the periphery. Incidents of persecution and violence occur daily outside my door. It’s not too much to expect of myself to actually meet my neighbors and to pray with and for them.

In all of this I realize that I’m just one voice, and can do little by myself, so I’ll extend the invitation to all of you to join me, if not at the two events I just described, then by choosing your own way to help create a better world within which we can welcome the Christ Child at Christmas.