This time a year is a time of preparation, isn't it? People scurry about shopping, decorating, wrapping presents, and whole host of other things for Christmas. The secular world even refers to this time of year as the Christmas Season. Everything climaxes in Christmas day. For us in the Church, the opposite is true. We are not in the Christmas season. The Christmas season doesn't begin with the consumer frenzy that is black Friday (or mid-September), it begins on Christmas. Today we begin the Season of Advent; a time when where we prepare for the dual coming of Christ. We prepare for the celebration of the Birth of Christ, the coming of the Incarnate God into our time and space, to be sure. That is not why we light candles or have an advent wreath. The wreath and its candles point to preparation of another coming of Christ: when He comes again at the end of time. How so?
If you have a guest coming at night, don't you turn on the lights by the door you want your guest to enter? To do so shows you are expecting your guest and and are ready for your guests arrival. The candles are lit in anticipation of a coming guest. Certainly the Gospel asks us to be watchful and aware. But is lighting a candle, an exterior sign, enough.
When Jesus bids us to be watchful, He is looking for 'mom' clean...not cleaning what can be seen, but that which can not normally be seen. The watchfulness He seeks goes to the core of our souls. Are our souls prepared and ready for the coming of Christ on a daily basis? You see, upon our baptism, the light of sanctifying grace flooded our souls and gave us a relationship with God not possible prior to baptism. This flood of grace is signified by a candle; our baptismal candle. That light, lit from the Paschal Candle, signifies the flame of Christ's life meant to be constantly at work within us, bearing fruit and transforming us into what it is God would have us be. When that candle is given, it is given with an instruction: keep this flame of faith alive. Your soul is like the candles of the advent wreath..something to burn brightly awaiting the coming of Christ again.
Our attentiveness to this flame matters. Hence, Christ bids us to be watchful and aware. We do not want to be caught with that flame extinguished. What would extinguish that flame? What would cause us to be found unaware and off-guard?
In a word: sin. Some sins can dim the flame and endanger it being eventually extinguished. We refer to those as venial sins. Some sins extinguish that flame altogether. Some sins snuff out the flame. With that light gone, we push out, by our own hand, that sanctifying grace given us at baptism. The flame must be relit. How, though? If it is by God's saving gift through sacramental grace that first gives us this light, so it must be God's saving gift through sacramental grace that relights this light. We do not re-baptize a person. No, the candle is relit through the sacrament of Reconciliation. It our owning up to how we blew out the flame of Christ's life, showing sorrow for what we did in blowing out the flame, asking God for His loving grace to relight the flame, and an amendment to not engage in behavior that endangers the flame..God once again relights our flame and returns the lost sanctifying grace to our souls. We again are prepared.
Now, undoubtedly, there are some among you who will claim that confession is not necessary for the forgiveness of sin or the restoration of sanctifying grace. Some will say they can do this independently with a 'me and Jesus' moment. I tell you what: I will give you any legitimate translation of the Bible you want and if you can find that, I will let you believe it. I will save you the problem though: it's not there. In fact, you ill find the opposite many times over. While Jesus does tell us to pray to God in all circumstances, including in the quiet of our heart, the forgiveness of sins is always mediated. This is true in both the old and new testaments. After the final sin/peace offering is done on the Cross and vindicated by the Resurrection, in the Gospel of John, at that first meeting with the apostles after the resurrection, He tells them, "Whose sin you forgive are forgiven, whose sins you retain are retained." Why do this? Because all sin is forgiven through Christ in the way He has chosen it to be done.
Do not forget God created us and hardwired us. God knows we need to hear the words coming out of our mouth to take ownership of our choices. Therapists and counselors know this. Nothing can be done to help a person until they have communicated what is wrong. Anyone who works with or lives with addicts knows that help cannot be given until the addict admits their addiction. We need to vocalize our sin. God knows this. There is also another necessity" the need to hear 'you're forgiven.' If you want to crush somebody, have them apologize to you and say nothing in return. It stymies the process. It leaves the wound open. God knows this as well. Hence this exchange happens within the guarded sacrament of confession. is exchange tells God we want that flame relit and we are committed to keeping that flame lit.
I will be honest. I know that there is confusion about this. The way most parishes treat confession would make you think that we don't think that it is all that important. Maybe 45 minutes on a Saturday afternoon, an occasional penance service, and we're done. The ubiquitous 'or by appointment' is left up there as an offer rarely used. Good look nailing down your priest on that one. I am aware that I cannot get into this pulpit and say one thing and offer another. Confession times are before every weekday Mass now. Confession times are before all Holy Day Masses. Were it not for the 20 minute commute between parish masses on Sundays, there would be confession times then too. On 1st Fridays, I am in the confessional all morning to give our grade school students the opportunity to develop the good and holy habit that is regular confession. I do not force them to do so. I cannot do that. But as with them, so with all my parishioners, I cannot make you go, but I can remove your excuses. I will stand before God and try to defend starving my flock from such a grace.
I know some have been away from this sacrament for months, years, and even decades. Fear of messing up or what will the priest think of them are strong enough to keep people permanently away. Most priests I know will happily walk you through how to go to confession and will be so happy you are there to have that flame reignited, that there won't be time for disdain.
Christ tells us to be watchful and aware today. Of all of the preparations we make this time of year, do not neglect the preparation of your soul. Do not let this Advent come and go with that flame of the life of Christ extinguished! Christ tells us we know neither hour nor the day; the time is always at hand...right now. We will hear those words of John the Baptist, "Prepare the way of the Lord!" Let us prepare by making sure that flame given us baptism is alive and well...lit like the candle of the advent wreath awaiting our Master's return. Don't focus so much on preparing what can be seen that we neglect that which cannot.
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