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Here we are in Advent once again.  One of the characteristics of this season is that it invites us to look forward, to imagine a new world, and then to offer ourselves to God as co-creators of that new world.  Advent also gets us looking forward to the Parousia, the return of Jesus signaling the end of time. Jesus told his followers—and by extension, us—that the return of the Son of Man will happen, but the timeline is only known by the Father.  None of the angels, nor he himself, the Son, know when that time will be.  That being the case, we cannot plan for that day in any normal way.  Back in the early 1960s, when a reporter asked Pope John XXIII what he would advise people in the Vatican to do if he heard Christ was coming a second time, he responded, “Look busy!”

Although we don’t know when it will come, we do know something about how it will come.  Jesus tells us it will be like in the days of Noah just before the flood.  People then were caught up in everyday business—eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. None of those activities seem so bad to me.  So, what was wrong with them? They were all-consuming.  They kept people from knowing something at a deeper level, from knowing what was really important to know in life.  As a result, in being anchored in nothing substantial, they got swept away in the Flood. 

Do you ever feel like life, and all the multi-tasking things you do, are sweeping you away? I do.  Have you ever caught yourself saying, “How can I be so busy and yet feel so empty? I have.  Advent is an opportunity, as the rest of the year also should be, to become aware and attentive of God at work in us.  To be aware is to go deep to a place where the water is still; not to be aware means getting swept away by the surface waves. 

Two men will be in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken, and one will be left.  There is no apparent difference between the two men in the field; they are both doing the same work.  Yet, one is taken into the Kingdom and the other is left behind.  Likewise, the two women grinding meal are doing the same thing, yet one is taken into the Kingdom and the other is left.  If there is no difference on the outside, the difference must be on the inside.  It must be on the level of awareness.  One was aware of something, and therefore more prepared while the other was unaware and caught off guard.  The unaware one was like the owner of the house who had no idea when the thief was coming.  Unfortunately, for many of us Christians, the command of Jesus to “stay awake” is reduced to “wake me when you think he’s near.”

Here’s a little story about how the busyness of life, all the stuff on the surface that we think is important, may be preventing a greater awareness from happening in us.

God and a man are walking down the road.  The man asks God, “What is the world like?” God replies, “I cannot talk when I am thirsty. If you could get me a drink of cool water, we could discuss what the world is like. There is a village nearby. Go and get me a drink.” 

The man goes into the village and knocks at the door of the first house.  A gorgeous young woman answers the door.  His jaw drops, but he manages to say, “I need a glass of cool water.”  “Of course,” she says, smiling, “but it is midday.  Would you care to stay for some food?” “I am hungry,” he says, looking over his shoulder.  “And your offer of food is a great kindness.”  He goes in and the door closes behind him.  Thirty years goes by.  The man who wanted to know what the world was like and the woman who offered him food married and raised five children.  He is a respected merchant, and she is a respected member of the community.  One day a terrible storm comes in off the ocean and threatens their lives.  The merchant cries out, “Help me, God!”  A voice from the midst of the storm says, “Where is my cup of cold water?”

The demands of life breeds a lack of attention to the demands of God.  We know what we want, but are we aware of what God wants for us?  We know what our prayers are, but do we ever ask the question: what is God’s prayer for us? 

Christmas is coming, and everyday activity will only get ramped up.  Already busy people will become busier.  The frantic preparations, including shopping, put people to sleep spiritually.  People begin to long not for the birth of the Christmas Christ, but for the lazy, doldrum days of January.  The rush of the season works against the message of the season.  We wrongly treat Spirit as a luxury, instead of the reality that feeds our souls.  As in Noah’s time, so too in our time, people value everything but the Spirit that ultimately sustains them. 

Here are two suggestions of how we might live Advent a little better.  Suggestion Number One: as you go about working in the field, grinding meal, preparing the guest list, cleaning the house, putting up decorations, shopping, (and then shopping some more at the liquor store), do it all with an awareness of God.  Carry the question, “What is God’s prayer for me?” into everything you do.  You’ll look like every man working in the field and every woman grinding meal, but the interior of you will be different.  I read about a Jewish doctor who says a Hebrew prayer of purification every time she washes her hands.  She explains that the prayer is not meant to purify but to remind her that the person she is treating is more than their disease.  In other words, she stays awake to the spiritual dimension of people while she attends to their bodily distress.

Suggestion Number Two: if you are shopping for others–great. But I advise you to shop also for yourself.  Shop for your soul.  Buy yourself something that rust, or moths will never get at.  Shopping for our soul will mean something different for each of us.  Maybe it’s a spiritual book.  Maybe it’s a gift card from a grocery store for someone struggling to buy groceries.  We can be so consumeristic, yet we rarely shop for our souls. 

The goal is to stay focused on the deeper dimensions of life. God is using you for his Son’s second and great return.

Fr. Phil Mulligan