People knew over a year in advance that the Pope was coming for a visit to America and the preparations began. Security, space limitations and requirements, protocols, crowd management, itineraries, invitations, regulations, and so much more was necessary to pull this event off effectively. It’s not every day that we get a visit from such a prominent dignitary. Thought, effort, meticulous attention to detail and vision all are necessary to make this thing work. After all, he can’t just show up in the ordinary and normal daily routines of life and catch people unprepared! Tickets have to be purchased, buses rented, hotel rooms reserved, and travel arrangements made early because it will be impossible to see him if we wait too long!

We do this kind of preparing not only for prominent religious figures but for political dignitaries, notable sports figures, people of fame, and even actors. If an individual intrigues us, we are going to want to do all we have to do to get a “good seat” in the house. Does Jesus Christ captivate this much of our attention? We are asked to prepare the way of the Lord and to do so not with frantic frenzy but patient enthusiasm. We do not have to stand on a street corner making profound announcements about God’s coming or become overly zealous in our embrace of the Good News. Our task is quieter, more interior, captivating, and consuming. We are asked to change. We have to conduct our lives with holy devotion.

Is the cost of that ticket too much for you? Don’t you want the “best seat” in the house? You don’t want to miss Our Lord’s arrival when he comes, do you? After all, if he comes while you are going about your daily routines without you even knowing, he may catch you off guard. Or, he may come in disguise looking like a beggar, a prisoner, migrant, refugee, or someone who is lost. Would you be ready to recognize him then? Preparing for the coming of Christ requires a change of mind, heart, and behavior. It is not adequate to simply do the things we always do. We want our lives to speak of the exciting news of Christ’s coming and the joy that the Gospel brings. It has to do with our demeanor, values, priorities, choices, and how we structure daily routines. Of course, it involves sacrifice. All anticipations do! Are you excited, captivated, enthusiastic, and sitting on the edge of your seat eager to celebrate his coming among us at Christmas, and waiting for him to come again? If not, why not?

©LPi

You are at the eye doctor and it’s time for the peripheral vision test. You know the one. It’s where you put your head up to a contraption and have to click a switch every time you see a squiggly line. If you don’t concentrate and maintain optimal focus, you will miss them and skew the outcome of the test. You can easily find yourself with a diagnosis that really isn’t accurate! Concentration and focus are key to succeeding with this evaluation. They are also key to developing a healthy, vibrant spiritual life. If we do not bring our full consciousness to the task, concentrate with all our might, be watchful and vigilant, we are not going to see God’s loving presence flashing before our eyes!

That’s why we need Advent. Let’s face it. We can easily get distracted, focus on nonessential and superficial things and lose touch with what really matters. Our attentions wander. We daydream and even become a bit overwhelmed and tired. All of the stresses and demands of life consume us and we find ourselves constantly trying to play catch up rather than relishing the moment of the now. “Now” moments are so fleeting. They flash before us like those squiggly lines on a screen. Present moments go as quickly as they come but it is important to discover them and rest in them as often as we can. Though gone in a flash, these now moments of encounter with God teach powerful lessons and offer a grounding in truth that can be found nowhere else. It’s the grace of Advent to become watchful and attentive because we are never sure when God will surprise us.

God loves surprises and love thrives on them! God’s now moments of surprises come as tender instants of intimate connection where I find profound peace, experience joy, and rest in love. These are Advent times reflective of the now moments when Christ first was born, when God surprises us during every time we care to watch and when the great surprise of Christ’s second coming dawns upon us all. But, to discover the grandeur and experience the awe of these now times, we have to be ready. We have to want to be there. We have to believe. And, we have to have the desire to soak in as much as we can in the time we have before us.

©LPi

Many Americans are fascinated with England’s monarchy. For many different reasons, we are drawn to the regal pageantry and all of the protocols associated with royal lifestyles. What’s most amazing is that for all of the media attention focused on the comings and goings of English royalty, they really have very little effect on the day to day dealings of their country. Thoughts and images of kings and queens are often centered on this story book understanding of who and what they are. We associate protocols, etiquette, and proper words and actions to how we approach members of a royal family. These tools serve the necessary purpose of keeping them isolated, enthroned, and at a distance. There is something attractive about being an observer of ritual, pomp, and circumstance. It’s almost theatrical.

Is this how we see Jesus Christ, too? We often behave as if Christ is an isolated, enthroned, royal, and even ineffective king. Jesus wants nothing to do with having the status of an earthly king. Jesus also does not want to be watched, observed, or set apart. He wants to get down and dirty with the very stuff of life especially the poor, marginalized, confused, hurting, lost, broken, imprisoned, and forgotten ones. Jesus is the king who turns the tables on us and wants not only our attention but our engagement and conversion. He wants us to get dirty too.

How we treat other people is at the heart of Christ’s kingdom. “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” At different times in our lives we are all counted among the “least” ones. We may not be physically poor, but we can easily become emotionally and spiritually poor. We may not be marginalized as many physically are, cast aside because they have too many needs or don’t quite fit in. But who hasn’t experienced isolation, loneliness, inner turmoil, angst, heartache, or loss? Almost every human being has experienced brokenness at one point or another, or will most definitely at some future point, facing discouragement, fear, insecurity. People are thirsty for more than water. We are imprisoned by our prejudices, misconceived notions and ideas, self-focused obsessions and ideologies. There is a lot of pain and many least ones around us. Stop, look and listen. This is what Christ the King is asking us to do. Look deeply into the eyes and soul of your sisters and brothers, all of them, and see Christ himself.

Being a spectator and observing all of the pageantry isn’t enough. Jesus wants us to inherit the kingdom and live the kingdom. It is built on the blocks of love, mercy, compassion, hope, faith, and blessing. It engages those who want it, changes and informs minds, inspires and transforms hearts, converts and renews souls, and sets things right. There is such a great need around us. Are you ready and willing to do whatever you can to serve in God’s kingdom?

©LPi

God gives us the gift of His very self and asks us to invest it. Investing God’s greatest gift of Himself wisely, allows God’s kingdom to grow and flourish. God trusts us with this pearl of great price in hopes that it will produce abundant fruit. While God’s gift of self is realized in the gifts of faith, hope, and love, they are not meant to be solely for personal benefit. They are intended to be shared and are at the heart of Jesus’ blueprint for happiness, the Beatitudes.

When we properly invest God’s greatest gift, His most treasured possession, we invest in the wellbeing of all of our brothers and sisters and the world in which we live. We take up most seriously our call to be stewards and properly manage, not only our own affairs, but the affairs of those around and before us. God has put tremendous confidence in us. Do we have that same confidence in God?

We often go the extra mile and put in the additional effort when it comes to those concerns closest to us: our families, friends, careers, home and securities. But when it comes to things that are not as close to us, we can become lax and less conscientious. Tending to God’s treasure requires a great deal of focus and persistent hard work. It demands that I see the bigger picture, God’s picture, in which self-sacrifice is a given as we labor for the establishment of God’s kingdom, God’s vision. Fear and a lack of trust can loom large, however. We are afraid of letting go of what is “mine” and apprehensive of jeopardizing what we have in order to venture into something bigger and more promising.

Fear and a lack of trust serve no purpose in God’s kingdom. They benefit neither the person nor God. What is required is a courageous resolve that produces the fortitude necessary to stay the course and do what God is asking. Doing all in our power to cultivate the seeds of faith, hope, and love in our world, working diligently to put all of our relationships in proper order, becoming attentive to systems and ideologies that hurt and oppress people, being mindful of injustice, and laboring on behalf of the poor and the needy are at the core of what each of us is asked to do. It is how we invest God’s most precious gift wisely. If persistent, alert and attentive, then life will gradually improve around us, there will be greater peace and we will experience joy.

©LPi