Dear Parishioners,
Why are we perpetually waiting… for God to do something in “the future”? Our two weeks of Advent readings from Isaiah have all been about “the future” when life will be joyous—why not today? In today’s 2nd reading (Jas 5:7-10), James says that “the coming of the Lord is at hand”—well, we’re still waiting. Even in today’s Gospel (Mt 11:2-11), John the Baptist appears impatient: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
Said differently: When God the Son finally comes to earth for 3 years of public ministry [4000 years (of
biblical timeline) after initially promised], what does Jesus do? He tells us that his kingdom is not of this world, says that He will come again, and returns to heaven! Why does God seem to perpetually keep His people waiting for His coming (his “advent”) for thousands of years? Within this “perpetual Advent” of now His Second Coming, each year the Church repeats the 4-week Advent preparation of Jesus’ First Coming. Why does God seem to always keep us waiting for Him to do something in the future? It seems like Jesus never comes.
…But He does! Jesus comes at EVERY Catholic mass! During the liturgy, we proclaim one of the
central messages of the Bible, the mystery of faith: “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your
Resurrection, until you come again.” This refers of course to Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time, but also to the reality that Jesus has just sacramentally come—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—and is really (“substantially”) present among us in the Eucharist. At Mass, we participate in Jesus’ perpetual heavenly offering of his crucified, resurrected, and ascended body before His Father in heaven (Hebrews chapters 8-10, and Revelation chapters 4-8 and 19).
The Book of Revelation is about the Catholic Mass! It begins with a priestly greeting (Rev 1:4), proceeds with the “liturgy of the Word” (the word of the angels to the churches in chapters 2–3), and continues in chapters 4 and 5 with the “liturgy of the Eucharist” depicting the worship of God and the Lamb, culminating in the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in chapter 19, and the New Jerusalem built upon the foundation of the apostles (chapter 21), i.e., the Catholic Church. At the very end of the book—the last words of the Bible—Jesus says “Surely, I am coming soon!” to which John replies “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20) …referring not only to Jesus’ Second Coming but also the to reality that Jesus comes to us in the worship of the Eucharist at Mass—a participation in the heavenly worship revealed to John on Sunday (the Lord’s Day, Rev 1:10).
So let us prepare again this Advent for Jesus to come again in a new and profound way into our hearts at Christmas. But let us not forget that the “coming of the Lord is at hand” (today’s 2nd reading) already, at every Mass. He does not delay. “‘Surely, I am coming soon!’ Amen. Come Lord Jesus!”
Peace in Christ,
Father Jim
