Happy New Year! I know it may seem a bit early to wish everyone a happy new year in December, but being a priest, I guess I get confused living in two worlds at the same time: the secular and the spiritual.
In the secular world, we all celebrate the new calendar year on January 1st, and many people, still carrying the Christmas cheer along with them from the week before, anticipate the “countdown” that precedes the stroke of midnight by making New Years’ resolutions with intentions of improving their life or setting goals that will lead to future success. I think it is great to work to always improve one’s self, so I usually join this tradition by thinking of some ways I can improve my health, my intellect and my spiritual life. But rather than doing this on January first like I used to, I now do it on the First Sunday of Advent.
I realize this may sound a bit strange at first, but as a priest, the “other world” I live in is the spiritual world which has a different calendar than the one around which our everyday business world revolves. Although the Church calendar has the same dates as our secular calendar, many of you know that the Church has a spiritual calendar which follows liturgical seasons. Advent, is the first season of the new liturgical year and this year, it started on December 1, 2019 with the First Sunday of Advent. This year was unique with its December 1st start. Sometimes the new liturgical year begins in late November, like it will next year, but I digress…. I am sure that many of you and your families are familiar with Advent. Many of us have used Advent Calendars growing up which count-down the 25 days until Christmas by daily opening numbered paper doors which would often times reward the opener with a piece of chocolate or a Bible verse. Many of you have also seen at Church or used at home an Advent Wreath, with its 3 purple and 1 rose colored candles held within an evergreen wreath.
These 4 candles represent the four weeks that, when lit weekly, count us down to celebrate one of the most important days in human history, the birth of God-made-man, Jesus the Christ and Our Savior, who was born in the City of David (Bethlehem) over 2000 years ago. We know now why He came because we have the benefit of the Scriptures that were written long ago as well as the lived tradition that has been handed down for millennia which confirms their truth. We know He came because the love of the Father, our Creator, is so great, that whatever sins or offenses humans may commit to try to separate themselves from God, they are no match for the love and forgiveness of God! Purple is the liturgical color of penance, and that is why the priest wears that color during Mass to remind us of our remorse for past offenses.
We celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God, because we know that we are the reason for his arrival in our world. He came to show us that evil and sin do not have the last word in our lives; that forgiveness is stronger than revenge; that true love requires sacrifice. He came to teach us about the “other world”(heaven) for which we are destined. And, Jesus came to show us how to get to that other world: by doing what He did; by loving our neighbor; by living lives that are good and holy and true; by giving of our very selves “expecting nothing thereof..!” In God, the beginning and the end are held together in time. He, Himself, is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. As we begin this new year (both liturgical and secular) let us keep in mind the two-worlds in which we live. We live in a secular world which requires our daily attention to duty, and family. As we fulfill the daily responsibilities that are placed upon us, let us make sure all of our daily actions are honest and pure, and as we work hard, let us not forget the Spiritual world which exists simultaneously and reminds us of the future world in which we hope to live. So let us make our New Year’s resolutions now, to live with eyes toward heaven, and hearts full of love for our neighbor and our God. The clock ticks daily and the countdown is ever present; but when the bell eventually tolls and the time has arrived for our new eternal beginning, let none of us on that day be heard saying, “I am not ready.” May God grant us all a Blessed Advent, a Holy Christmas and a Joyous New Year! -Rev. Msgr. Glenn L. Nelson