Advent wish list for humanity

Pope Benedict XVI led the charge in calling for Catholics and indeed, people of the world to buckle up to new endeavors and old traditions as the Church enters a new liturgical year and the season of Advent.  The need to aid a struggling humanity may never have been greater, certainly not since the last time the world was engulfed in a global war. 

     Since the general assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference was convened and addressed by the pope in the second week of November, the pontiff and other representatives of the Church in Rome, in America, and throughout the world have continually spoken up about the hard cases facing humanity now.  In a letter to the conference, Pope Benedict got the ball rolling by telling the importance of having a fundamental relationship with God that is lived accordingly. http://www.examiner.com/x-4101-Albuquerque-Catholic-Examiner~y2009m11d11-Pope-calls-for-making-God-known

     Over three weeks letters and statements were made by the Church’s various representatives regarding every angle of poverty, healthcare in American and throughout the world, the importance of faith education, and other related topics.  The pope alone addressed groups as varied as the conference entitled “Ephphata: the Deaf Person in the Life of the Church,” the gathering of cyberspace brains to teach the use of the internet in the modern church, and the scientists and religious who met together to study the age old question of religion and/or science.  At every meeting, reaching into the role of each group, he emphasized the same basic premise: everyone needs to develop his/her relationship with God and with their fellow human beings.  It’s all part of the plan for the faithful to love God and care for one another

     As the Church year was coming to an end with the long Thanksgiving weekend, Pope Benedict summed up the November campaign, when he asked people to imagine a world where families and communities work in tandem for the good of all, harmoniously following the example of the Holy Trinity.  He invoked the idea of people not only living together but for each other as well.  The occasion was a reflection on two twelfth century French monks, Hugh and Richard, and their contributions to emphasis on reading scripture, sacramental theology, and the recording of their historical work, especially Richard’s book, On the Trinity. 

     Then on the last full day of the liturgical year, the pope revisited the subject of migration and immigrants as he had earlier in the month.  In previewing the comments he will make to the 96^th World Day of Migrants and Refugees in January, he stayed with the position of the Church that not only are people entitled to basic human rights, but among those is also the right to seek freedom and life by immigration when necessary.

     It should come then as no surprise that his words serve as a springboard into the season of Advent, a time of those in poverty and those who are immigrants.  It ends in four weeks when we hear the tremendous immigration story of Mary and Joseph, their travels to a different land and the struggle to find shelter for the birth of their child, who was eventually born in a feeding trough.  Since the first immigrant, Abraham who followed God’s call to ‘up and move’ even when he was an old man, to the time of the Holy Family, and in our time, the message has always been to reach out to strangers and to those in need no matter where they come from.

     Saturday evening the Holy Father presided at vespers before the First Sunday of Advent, and he reminded everyone that Advent is an invitation to silent pause and reflection to understand God’s presence.  He called on the faithful to put aside the frivolity that possesses us in this season and take time to see the Lord’s presence in our lives.

     Advent is defined as ‘coming in to place or view.’  It is fitting then that this is a time when the faithful should take the idea to heart…an open heart.  It should be a time to let the face of Christ come into view no matter where it’s found.  It is a season when the Church acknowledges the most gracious gift of God, literally Christ who would give his all for the salvation of many.  Since it is a season when the people of God prepare to recall that first coming of Christ, it is also a ‘devout and joyful expectation’ of the second coming (General Norms of the Liturgical Year and the Calendar #39), an event that is making the kingdom of God a reality for all.  The General Instruction of the Roman Missal and Lectionary for Mass: Introduction, documents designed for the meaningful movement of Catholic worship, both indicate a difference in the parts of Mass, the meaning of scripture readings, and even the purpose of liturgical music during Advent.  It is thus a time for the people of faith to take on a different meaning, a different tone, a time to put on Christ.

     A part of the Advent scripture reading is the book of the prophet Isaiah.  It is the prophecy of a Messiah, a new covenant, and a new life.  For the people of two thousand years ago who waited for that night with the solitary star over Bethlehem, it was a time of unrest and anxiety.  For the Christian today it is a time of unrest and anxiety.  Perhaps when the pope’s thoughts are acknowledged by the people, the vision of humanity living in the example of the Holy Trinity, not only by each other but also in each other will be reality.  We have a wish list of things, some of which are basic human rights, and the right or wrong of those things belongs to all of humanity.  What a glorious time to ponder how far each is willing to extend his/her helping hand.