Bishop Wester: 'Pray, ponder and prepare'

Intermountain Catholic

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As we begin the Advent season, our thoughts naturally turn to Christmas in anticipation of the birth of our Savior. Already we are inundated by Christmas decorations in stores, Christmas cards, Christmas party invitations and Christmas carols on the radio.

But not so fast! For Catholics, Dec. 2 marks the beginning of the liturgical season of Advent, not Christmas. It is a time of expectation, of longing and of preparation for the coming of the Messiah, the newborn Christ child. We must wait until Dec. 24 at the vigil Mass to celebrate his arrival.

For most of us, however, waiting means annoyance. We don’t like to wait – we want to do, we want to be on the move. We sometimes fail to appreciate that Advent really is a gift that helps us open our hearts to that which we are expecting. This is unfortunate, because by rushing through to Christmas we miss many valuable experiences.

Advent is, in this way, similar to those awaiting the birth of a child. I’ll bet that if you asked any mother or father, they would tell you that their days of pregnancy were filled with wonder, awe and joyful expectation as they bonded with the child in the womb. No doubt, though, those same parents also were getting things ready so that their baby would be healthy and have a comfortable home.

Waiting involves passive pondering and active anticipation. The Church calls us to both at Advent. We can take our cue from Isaiah who, according to St. Matthew, provided the text for John the Baptist in calling us to "make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low." (Isaiah 40: 3b - 4a)

Isaiah was referring to the preparations made for the triumphant arrival of the emperor. In those times, roads were marred with deep ruts dug by chariot wheels. To make a smooth highway on which the great ruler would enter the city, all the townsfolk would break down the high ridges and fill in the treacherous ruts. That hard work is precisely what we are called to do this Advent as we await for the coming of God-made-man at Christmas.

Advent is a precious period for us to ponder and prepare.

Pondering is another word for prayer. Most of us have huge holes in the road of our lives where we miss opportunities for prayer. Admittedly, we are very busy; our days are filled with various responsibilities as we respond to our families, friends, jobs, extracurricular activities and so forth. In the midst of all this activity, we are called by God to pause and listen, to allow his Spirit to fill our weary souls with the refreshing words of his love and mercy. If sleep knits up the raveled sleeve of care, then prayer fashions the entire garment! We are created to be one with our God, but we cannot do that if we are always on the go. Advent invites us to find a few minutes each day to ponder what it means that God became one of us, that God loved us into existence and that God wants us to be one with him forever in heaven. In light of these realities, answering that one last e-mail does not seem quite as important.

Preparation also is part of Advent. We are called to make the valleys and hills made low, a poetic way of saying that we must repent as we level the obstacles our sins place on our road to the Lord. Bad habits, sinful inclinations and poor choices abound, making it difficult for the new-born Savior to enter our lives. Advent is an excellent time to take stock, to see how we can spend more time with loved ones, speak more charitably at work, be more giving and help those less fortunate, including the sick. As a dear friend of mine always said, "The takers eat well and the givers sleep well." Probably most of the mountains and hills constructed by our sins could be greatly leveled by reaching out to others instead of caring only for ourselves.

We could pass the time until Christmas by telling stories, eating and playing games, as Vladimir and Estragon do while waiting for the absent Godot in Samuel Beckett’s famous 20th-century work. The two friends spend the whole play never really knowing who Godot is and never having the pleasure of welcoming him. Hopefully, our Advent will not be such an existential absurdity but will engage us in the kind of prayer that helped Mary prepare to give birth to the Messiah, and the kind of activity that will make room in our hearts for the Christ Child so that we will know him when he comes.

Christ became one of us in the incarnation because of God’s love. This Advent we are called to ponder, pray and prepare so that when Christmas finally comes we will be ready to embrace our God, who comes to us as a vulnerable baby. Now is the time to make the roads of our lives smooth so the emperor of all creation can approach us.

I do wonder, though, who is waiting for whom. Could it be that as we are waiting for the Christ child, God is waiting for us to run down our newly smoothed highway to greet him as he comes?

A blessed Advent to you all!

+ The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City