Advent—A Pilgrimage of Hope

On the First Sunday of Advent each one of us is called by God to begin a pilgrimage of hope. We begin from wherever we are in life. Our destination is the stable in Bethlehem, where we will kneel in adoration before God, born as a tiny Child of the Virgin Mary. It takes us about one month to make this journey. It doesn’t require us to put miles on the car or to count our steps each day. This pilgrimage asks us to open our hearts to hear God calling us closer and closer to the manger.
        
How do we hear God’s voice? We follow the message that Jesus gave us in the Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent. He teaches us, “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk 21:36). Although Our Lord is referring to the vigilance that is necessary when He returns at the end of time, this prayerful vigilance is also necessary for us to make the journey to Bethlehem for the Feast of His Birth. We must pray each day and in our prayer listen to the directions God gives us for our journey.
        
The oil for our lamp of prayer is the Holy Scriptures and the lives of the saints. During Advent we have a rich selection of the Scriptures each day at Mass and a cavalcade of feast days that serve as a powerful aid in our prayer life.
          
The prophets of the Old Testament appear each day at Mass sharing with us their message of hope that tells of the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah, Baruch, Zephaniah, and Amos encourage us in our prayer to open our hearts to the Son of God coming among us born of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

Isaiah foretells, “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you this sign, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel, which means, ‘with us is God’” (Is 7:14-15).
        
Baruch encourages us as we continue on our Advent pilgrimage, “Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of God forever… Up, Jerusalem, stand upon the heights, look to the east and see your children, gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One” (Bar 54:1-5).
        
Zephaniah bids us to rejoice with the whole Church because the King of Kings is coming to us. “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst…” (Zep 3:17-17).
        
The Psalms spur us on in our journey to the stable, “I rejoiced because they said to me, ‘Let us go up to the house of the Lord’” (Ps 122:1). “Open to me the gates of justice: I will enter them and give thanks to the Lord” (Ps 118:19). “Our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield. For in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust” (Ps 33:20-21).

Our Lord speaks to us when the Gospel is proclaimed each day at Mass.

• We hear in St. Mathew’s Gospel,  “The centurion said in reply (to Jesus) ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof…’ (Jesus replied) ‘Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith’” (Mt 8:8-10).
• We hear in St. Luke’s Gospel, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus answers this question posed by two of John’s disciples, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (Lk 7:19,22).
• We hear also in St. Luke’s Gospel, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will  rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end” (Lk 1:30-33).

Our Lord Himself accompanies us on our road to Bethlehem. By the Sacred Scriptures He speaks to us of His long awaited birth. As we walk on our pilgrimage, each day at Mass we encounter Jesus, who offers Himself to us in Holy Communion. He comes to us surrounded by His Most Holy Mother, St. Joseph and all the saints. They pray for us and draw us deeper into the awesome mystery of encountering Jesus Himself in the Holy Eucharist.  St. Paul tells us that we should be “blameless in holiness before God our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones” (1 Thes 3:13).
The Season of Advent provides us with an invitation to walk yet again to the humble stable in Bethlehem. No matter what may distract us on this journey of prayerful vigilance, our encounter with Jesus at Mass and the prayers of Our Lady and the saints buoys us up on our way. For we know that the Lord came to us in Bethlehem some two thousand years ago, He will come in glory at the end of time, and He comes to us each day on the altars of our churches.  What is the best way to prepare for Christmas? It is coming to daily Mass, hearing the Scriptures, learning from the saints and encountering Jesus Himself!

So, what are we waiting for? What are we afraid of? Let’s pick up our edition of Magnificat, or The Word Among Us, or our daily missal, and let the Word of God and the wisdom of the saints lead us to the Word Incarnate made present in the Eucharistic Sacrifice! He has come to us! He waits for us to come to Him! Have a blessed journey!

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh