Monday, December 24, 2012

Last Day of Advent

At early Mass, Fr Paul reminded us of that grief of separation from the Lord that the Church feels now, in these last days, between His Ascension and Second Advent. We yearn to be with the Lord; Communion, the Blessed Sacrament, is the foretaste and promise of this everlasting abiding with Him – hence Mass, a glimpse of heaven here below (till sacraments shall cease) is a pledge of what shall be forevermore, the Nuptial Banquet and Union with the Triune God through Christ.

Advent is not merely about getting ready for Christmas; as Parsch said (or was it Jungmann?), the Liturgical Year does not so much begin with Advent as end with it – end with it, and with Christmastide, finally concluding with the Presentation and old Simeon's Nunc dimittis.  The Year of Grace may be said to begin with Septuagesima, with Genesis telling of Creation and the Fall: Advent and Christmastide is the presage of the Second Coming, and of everlasting bliss in the Kingdom that shall have no end.

We ought not just look backward in sentiment, as look forward in hope tempered with holy fear: the Lord shall come, and all His Saints with Him, and He shall restore Jerusalem. Christ's coming in flesh in the last days is the guarantee that, His warfare ended, having run the race from womb to tomb, soon He shall return in glory, to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire: His Sacred Humanity, the first fruits of bodily resurrection and eternal deification for all who shall be found in Him.

A blessed Christmas to all: prepare yourselves, for in the morning the glory of the Lord shall shine upon us, and we shall behold His glory, glory as of the Father's Only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.
Σὺ γὰρ εἶ τὸ ὄντως ἐφετὸν καὶ ἡ ἀνέκφραστος εὐφροσύνη τῶν ἀγαπώντων σε, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ σὲ ὑμνεῖ πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν. 
For Thou art that which is truly sought for, and the unutterable gladness of those that love Thee, O Christ our God, and all creation hymneth Thee unto the ages. Amen.

1 comment:

Matthias said...

And to you to Joshua andthanks for being an example of Catholic Christianity .