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Saint Luke was ahead of his time. He's almost like writing directions
for a film. Imagine the opening pictures on the screen, first of all from
the air looking down on the Emperor's palace in Rome, and then zooming
in to look on the lonely figure of Tiberius Caesar walking in the garden
with his bodyguards lurking in the porticos. And then of course the camera
goes across to Pontius Pilate, not quite as grand a palace but luxurious,
beautifully decorated in the classical style, the columns the pillars
and then to the henchmen of the Roman Emperor, the paid kings who were
allowed their luxuries as long as they toed the line. And he names them:
Herod the Tetrach, Philip the Tetrach. And the camera going to their homes,
luxurious in the style of the Romans, of their superiors, and then to
the temple to the glory of the Jewish people; this temple built on the
rock in the centre of Jerusalem; built, of course, by Herod, but still
enchanted them by it's beauty. Almost like the Golden Dome which now stands
on that rock; and then the camera goes out and there's nothing until we
see in the nothingness of the desert a tiny figure in rags - John the
Baptist - and we hear his voice 'prepare a way for the Lord'.
A very powerful picture St. Luke gives us of the people turning away from
the power and the political might of the system, of the society in which
he lived, turning away to nothing, to the desert, to the sparseness of
that figure of John the Baptist. And one of the ways we have to prepare
for Christmas, is very powerfully depicted in that. Our focus should not
be on the successes of Tiberius Caesar, of the Tetrachs, even of the temple,
but on that mysterious, almost naked figure of John the Baptist who lives
in the desert with nothing. That's how we are to prepare for Christmas.
John the Baptist, quoting Isaiah, says 'make his path straight, every
barrier filled in, every mountain and hill laid low. Winding ways will
be straightened, rough roads made smooth.' So it's about bringing order
into the desert, into the chaos perhaps. Somehow making things straight
so we can see our directions clearly what Christmas is about. One of the
ways of doing that is to come to the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
We can see very clearly when we come on Fridays in Advent for the Adoration
our focus is immediately on the coming of the Saviour. So, it's one of
the ways we can follow John the Baptist.
Another way in which we can follow John the Baptist is over there on that
banner. The other way we can follow, and her feast-day we celebrate tomorrow
and she, in fact, fleshes out what John is saying, is to look at Mary,
the mother of God, and see how she helps us to prepare for Christmas.
In so many ways, if we spend time with Our Lady, in Advent, we learn how
to prepare in our families for Christmas. But in two ways I would suggest
especially: Mary is expecting a baby, and one of the things that Mary
can teach us is waiting. Now really as a church we have so much going
for us this time of year, for one, the whole mood of the world is the
mood of Advent; it's waiting for Christmas, it's dominated by Christmas
and the celebrations of Christmas. The world tends to get in too early,
but the mood is there, the excitement is there, the waiting is there.
And one of the things we can bring to that atmosphere is what Mary would
tell us - wait- don't celebrate until it's time. There are only 12 days
of Christmas to celebrate, and if you have to go to work's parties and
office parties, go with that waiting, knowing that we are being caught
up but not completely, because the baby hasn't arrived but we are looking
forward to the coming of the Saviour.
So Mary can teach us how to bring into this time of expectancy the patience
and the waiting and every woman knows that, it's probably the feminist
characteristic - the ability to wait - I've seen that with daughters ,
waiting for their mothers to die, waiting for their fathers to die, by
the bedside. Almost with a gentleness, with a sensitivity which is a real
gift as they wait patiently for the coming of the Saviour. And that's
why there is a masculine thing which would go and sort out these things
by cutting through; let's not wait, pull the plug; I think women have
so much to offer in teaching us how to wait because it's built into them,
they have to wait, they have to wait for the baby to come. So Mary can
teach us about waiting.
The second thing we need to learn which Mary teaches us is hospitality.
And that is one of the things that helps us to prepare for Christmas,
to look at hospitality. I think Mary must have been so delighted; she
had just given birth to her child but she must have been so delighted
to have seen the shepherds shuffling in embarrassment as they came at
the bidding of the angels to see her new baby and she must have made them
so welcome. So one of the things we have to do in Advent is to look out
for today's shepherds, the ones in need; the shepherds were poor, they
had nothing, it wasn't Philip and Herod, the Tetrachs the angels came
to, they came to the shepherds on the hillside because they were poor.
They would know what the Saviour of the world was. Part of our hospitality
as we prepare for Christmas is to bring into our Christmas celebrations
the homeless, the needy, and help our children see that Christmas is a
time for giving to the poor. They must somehow be contained in our preparations
for Christmas; and Christmas is a great feast of hospitality. It's a feast
when the whole family are welcomed and I know in our own parish there
are people who, every Christmas, welcome a neighbour who are going to
be on their own and they bring them in and make them part of the Christmas
festivities. To have a eye for that, to look around and see perhaps there
is someone on their own and there shouldn't be anyone on their own if
we're really living Mary's hospitality at Christmas.
So that's two things that she shows us how to prepare. The patience, the
waiting; how to wait and celebrate; teach our children to wait, to hang
on. Don't celebrate yet, wait. It's a great time for Christmas plays and
concerts at school, but, again, this isn't a celebration of Christmas;
it's putting our minds to what is important. Helping our children to see
that what is really important is the coming of the Saviour. So waiting
and hospitality so that our hearts become open to the poor and we look
around in our own society and see who needs to be part of our celebrations
and somehow, how can we reach out to them. I would suggest, and really
when you think of it, last Friday we had the Exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament, a chance to come before the Blessed Sacrament, and it goes
on from 09:30 in the morning to 19:30 in the evening, so nobody has an
excuse for not coming. So children can see clearly what Christmas is about,
and again staying up late, from the 17th onwards we are celebrating the
Sacrament from 19:00 - 20:00, they are far better off here than in front
of the television. Let's help families to see what Christmas is about.
There's nothing more important than that. The shepherds didn't say to
the angels 'we can't come, we're busy'. They hurried to Bethlehem. We
have the opportunity to do the same thing; and it's a lovely thing; it
will bring such blessing on our homes and families, because to do that
is really to make a priority. Build it into your Christmas preparations.
Mary knows that if we focus on her son, then we are preparing properly
for Christmas.
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