‘Come, Lord Jesus,
come.’
‘Come, Lord Jesus,
come.’ That popular hymn title, taken
from the concluding words of the whole Bible, (Rev.22. 20), proclaims the
meaning of this holy season of Advent. It
is meant to remind us of our constant and desperate need for God to come to our
aid.
The holy season of
Advent is meant to shake us out of taking pride in our self-sufficiency. We can
so easily push God into the background. We
do not allow Him to ‘intrude’ into our daily lives, into the way we think and
act. When the psalmist condemns the fool
for saying ‘there is no God’ he is not accusing him of denying the very
existence of God. No, the fool’s folly
is to think he can manage his life very well without God being involved. But if God were ever to cease sustaining
our very existence we would collapse in nothingness. God is with us, in all that we are and do
-except for our sinning.
But during Advent
we focus on several special ways in which God comes into our lives and with His
help we try to make Him welcome.
Firstly, Advent
helps us recall with gratitude that God chose a people and made a covenant of
love with them. He gave them laws which
would protect their relationship with Him and with each other. Like a good shepherd, He was always with
them, guiding and protecting them. His
spokesmen were the prophets. Not only
did they keep God’s people on the right path, but they prophesied that God
would come into their midst as the saviour-messiah of the whole world, not just
a small chosen people. That Messiah, of
course, was Jesus Christ, whose birthday we will celebrate at Christmas. During Advent we will be preparing ourselves
to make Him especially welcome on that day.
We will try to appreciate the wonder of the Son of God Himself sharing
our human life, simply because He loves us people so much that He was prepared
to do all in His power to make it possible for us to share His divine life and
happiness.
Next, during
Advent we remember the different ways the Holy Spirit enables us to meet Jesus
in our daily lives -through prayer, the sacraments and each other. As we become more aware of Christ identifying
with the needy we should be moved to come to their aid in what are known as the
‘Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.’
In so many different ways Jesus knocks at the door of our lives, hoping
we will open up to Him and let Him in.
They prepare us
for the most decisive moment when Jesus comes to us in our lives -the moment of
our deaths. If we have welcomed Him
during our earthly lives, He will come to welcome us into His eternal life and
happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven. We won’t be strangers.
Death is a taboo
subject. We don’t want to talk or think
about it. Especially when we are fit,
active and so full of life death doesn’t enter our way of thinking. But like it or not none of us can avoid it. Nor do I want to! At 86 years old and with serious heart and lung
problems, I could die at any moment. That doesn’t frighten me.
Why? Our faith
gives us hope in a far better life beyond the grave. Then we hope to share the very life and
happiness of God Himself. We should look
forward to that; we should long for that.
Not that any of us
is fit to enter the presence of the All-Holy God. In Himself He so transcends
us, His creatures, that He is unapproachable.
And we are all sinners, unfit to enter His presence. But, thank God, we do not trust in what we deserve
but in His infinite love and mercy. My
faith is sustained by two key texts.
Firstly, "For God so loved the world tat He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believed in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the
world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.…” (Jn. 3. 16-17). Next, I make St. Paul’s confession of faith
my own, “I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me,” (Gal. 2. 20). His sacrificial love and mercy for each of
us is the only hope I need. That gives me the confidence to pray each day and
night, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” Now
I’m impatient for Jesus to welcome me into His Kingdom at the hour of my death.
Finally, Jesus
will come in glory at the end of time. Then He will establish His sovereignty
over heaven and earth. Every form of evil will be wiped away. That will be the climax, the completion, of
God’s plan of salvation. We should all long for that ‘Day of the Lord,’ as we join
the first Christians in praying, “Come, Lord Jesus, come!”
Isidore O.P.
