Over the past three weeks of Advent we have called to stay awake, to be alert, all the while listening and waiting and making straight our paths. So, what has your Advent been like during these times of the pandemic? Outside of marking the time by lighting the Advent candles each week, what, perhaps have you been seeing, feeling or doing differently this year? Faced with all the challenges that have been brought upon us this past year, today’s Gospel gives us three points which may lead us to a better understanding of what we are called to do in our final days of Advent…and beyond. Check it out…

1. 1 Deacon JimKnipper
20 December 2020 4th Sunday Advent Princeton, NJ
Have you ever noticed how the Church gives us periods of time in order to prepare before Christmas
and Easter? Then afterwards there is period of celebratory time to allow both holy days to fully unfold.
Prior to Easter we, of course, have Lent where the focus is on fasting, penance, repentance and
almsgiving. But this period of time before Christmas is something different. Pulling from the readings
of these past few weeks, Advent is the time for us to stay awake, to be alert, all the while listening and
waiting and making straight our paths. Many look at it as a time to look inward – to take notice of what
needs to personally change in order to be prepared for the celebration of the birth of the Christ.
So, what has your Advent been like during these times of the pandemic? Outside of marking the time
by lighting the Advent candles each week, what, perhaps have you been seeing…or feeling or doing
differently?
For me, it has been spending more time in prayer over what this 1st
Christmas will look like for my
family since the loss of our grandson, Julian. Last Sunday we celebrated Gaudete Sunday, a time to
rejoice, and so I spent my time looking at all I have in my life to give thanks for and to rejoice
about…and ways to bring the light and love of my grandson to others. But for many – this pandemic
has left so many households financially, physically, socially, and spiritually depleted that the sound of
voices crying out has been deafening.
Indeed, this Advent has been filled with numerous voices crying out – some we may have found
uplifting and others unpleasant. But faced with these and other challenges, I think today’s Gospel gives
us three points which may lead us to a better understanding of what we are called to do in our final
days of Advent.
First: did you notice the amount instances that names are used in this Gospel passage? Throughout
the year our Gospels have been filled with stories of Jesus healing and forgiving – but most often
nameless – like the woman at the well, the 10 lepers, etc. But within just a few lines of Luke’s Gospel
today we hear at least a dozen different names of people and places. The angel Gabriel, sent by God
to Nazareth in the Galilee, to Joseph, in the house of David to a virgin whose name was Mary, who will
bear a son and name him Jesus…and so on. You see, when a story is really important, it is necessary
to clearly identify the situation and name the names. Think of some of the names of people in your life
that you might have heard from or heard about this Advent – those in need, those who are sick, those
who have died, those who would love a face-to-face visit, but still not possible to do. What about the
names of over 300,000 people who have died of the Virus? It is said it would take one person nearly
ten days, nonstop to read each name aloud. So what names need to be called out and brought forward
in your life? Names to be remembered, to be prayed for, to be recognized….to give thanks for?
That brings me to the second nuance in the Gospel: dialogue. If you go back and reread the Gospel
you will find it is all dialogue – serious dialogue about a young teenage girl, not married and being told
she is pregnant… and will bear a son whose kingdom will have no end. It was all face to face listening
and speaking….no texting, emailing, tweeting, istagramming. No divisive rumors or assumptions or
notions. It is something I think we all need to examine in our lives and frankly as a country.

2. 2 Deacon JimKnipper
We need to stop grasping at the various media snippets and gossip and then rushing to our
communication outlets, fanning the flames of impassionate and often inaccurate fodder. Rather, we
need to learn to have constructive dialogue, face to face (or, at the moment, I should say mask-to-
mask) with another person, with the first step being to simply listen to the other. And we need to begin
in our own homes, with our spouse, with our kids…with our parents, then in our workplaces and
expanding outward. I fear we are losing this basic skill of having a meaningful, honest conversation
where both parties are heard. John the Baptist said he came to testify to the Light…well the Light is
shining on you and me and we can no longer hide the light under a basket. Part of Advent is about
bringing new light into the darkness…and we can no longer bury our heads and avoid these issues.
And lastly, Advent is not necessarily all about looking internally and focused on just yourself – it is
about actively preparing the way. For the past two weeks we heard the Gospel accounts of John the
Baptist baptizing with water as he was making straight the path and preparing for the Lord. But the
action in today’s Gospel was the few words spoken by Mary: “Yes. Let it be done to me.” It wasn’t: “I’ll
get back to you” or “I’m really too busy” or “It’s not my problem.” Upon hearing the angel’s proclamation
of her pregnancy, she had to be shocked, astonished, frightened, maybe even embarrassed. But she
had the faith and the courage to say – yes.
You see – God is in it all – or as Paul writes in one of his letters to the Corinthians – God will be all in
all. God can and will use everything, absolutely everything. And actually…it is God who is doing the
waiting. Waiting for us to say ‘Yes’ to things in our life. Yes to naming what needs to be called
out…Yes to have open and honest dialogue…Yes to make the changes that are needed in our
lives…and in our society.
Advent is calling us to be conscious, awake, alert. Advent calls us to be open to how Christ comes to
us every day. Advent calls for our participation by opening our eyes to our own brokenness and that of
society. Christ is there…just waiting and wanting our active participation.
And here is the kicker…while the liturgical calendar may say that Advent ends in a few days…Advent
never really ends. For Christ is always and forever coming and we are forever being called to vocally,
physically, and mentally…cry out…in order to make straight the paths in our society and in our lives.
We must refuse to allow suffering and injustice to silence us but rather force ourselves to reecho God’s
love.
But the presence of so much pain in our lives and in our country does not diminish our need to
celebrate. Actually, it makes it more necessary – it is how change happens – how wounds are healed.
My friend, author and artist Jan Richardson, recently defined celebration as “a means to practice our
willingness to see the presence of love in the midst of brokenness and to ask how God might work
through us to put the broken pieces together again”
So, in five days’ time we will once again celebrate what began with Mary’s – yes – the birth of her son
Jesus the Christ. And using the words from my favorite carol…let us pray that our soul will feel its
worth…that the chains within our society will be broken and oppression will cease…as we joyously
echo the thrill of hope that perhaps our weary world will, indeed, rejoice - again and again and again.