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Browsing Father Michael Deering's Sunday Homilies

Jesus Christ is coming to town!

Jesus Christ is coming to town!
Homily preached
November 28, 2021
by Monsignor Michael Deering

 

Now that we’re less than a month from Christmas, parents of young children may pick from a large list of good Santa Claus movies to show them.

 

One good one is the 1994 movie called: “The Santa Claus” starring Tim Allen.

 

In this particular movie, a little boy has no problem believing

that Santa exists and that he is coming on Christmas Eve.

It’s his parents who have a problem accepting that as being true.

 

You know, when their kids are little, parents love to tell them about Santa Claus.

 

They ask them, “Do you want to see Santa?”

“Do you believe that Santa is coming?” “What would you like Santa to bring you?”

 

The mystique of Santa Claus is powerful and exciting.

It makes kids look forward to the coming of a man who can bring them all kinds of good things. Santa is the main character of the Christmas Season and the anticipation of his coming creates an atmosphere of expectation and preparation.

 

Well, once again, the Christmas Season has begun. It started ...

informally the day after Halloween ... and formally the day after Thanksgiving.

 

And, as it does every year, the Christmas Season will run right alongside

another season … one that formally begins today … the Advent Season.

 

And for the next 4 weeks, these two seasons will be running side by side!

 

The Christmas Season is driven by the Culture.

      The Advent Season is driven by the Church.

 

It’s during the Advent Season that we hear the Church speak to us about Jesus ...

the same way we speak to our kids about Santa.

 

The Church asks us, “Do you want to see Jesus?”

“Do you believe that Jesus is coming?” What would you like Jesus to bring you?”

 

Like the mystique of Santa, the mystique of Jesus is powerful and exciting.

 

It makes us look forward to the coming of a God-Man who can bring us every good thing. Just as Santa is the main character of the Christmas Season,

              Jesus is the main character of the Advent Season,

and His coming also creates an atmosphere of expectation and preparation.

 

We don’t hesitate to tell our kids that they

better be good ... because Santa Claus is coming to town.

In the same way, the Church tells all of us that we

better be good ... because Jesus Christ is coming to town.

 

Just like Santa, Jesus sees you when you’re sleeping, He knows when you’re awake.

He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!

 

That’s a warning that all of us definitely need to heed.

 

In his 1st Letter to the Thessalonians, proclaimed today, St. Paul instructs us,

“You should conduct yourselves to please God.”

 In other words, Paul is saying:    “Be good for goodness sake!”

 

This reminder is something that all of us need to think of as we go about preparing our homes to celebrate Christmas. We need to remind ourselves ..

that Santa isn’t the only one that’s coming to town; Jesus is coming too!

 

The season of Advent, that runs from today until Christmas has a 2-fold purpose.

 

First of all, it’s the time to prepare ourselves to commemorate the First Coming of Jesus Christ. In our First Reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, God foretells, “The days are coming … when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel.

 

And then some 500 years later, God did indeed fulfill His promise, when He came down from heaven in the person of Jesus Christ!

This is the great mystery of God becoming Man ... and dwelling among us!

And so during Advent, we prepare ourselves to celebrate ...

the great mystery of the Incarnation … the wonder of the Nativity.

 

Second of all, Advent is the time to prepare ourselves to be ready for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ ... when He will take His followers into Heaven ...

      and dispatch His enemies into Hell.

 

As we heard in our Second Reading, St. Paul couldn’t be more concerned for us ...

as he prays ... with us and for us ...

that we be blameless in holiness beforethe coming of Our Lord Jesus.”

 

These 2 reasons make Advent a season of ... joyful yet devout ... expectation.

 

You know, it’s easy to get swept up in the hustle-bustle of the season with the Culture guiding you to jump into the shopping frenzy to be ready for Christmas. But, The Church guides you to purify your hearts and souls to be ready for Jesus.

 

 

Our culture and our family traditions guide us to make many preparations like shopping and decorating and cooking and baking and sending greeting cards.

 

These things are fine, but all these preparations must never take precedence over Jesus’ call to prepare our hearts for Him.

 

That’s the very reason for the season of Advent. The Church, in her wisdom, inserts this 4-week period of preparation into the liturgical calendar to remind us that our most important priority is preparing ourselves to meet the Lord. 

 

All the decorations on your house and all the gifts that you get and give, will one day go away. But your immortal soul is going to live forever. Realizing that should help you to spend the appropriate amount of time preparing each one!

 

You know, back in my teenage years I was very annoyed that the Church seemed so mixed up on its selection of Christmas music.

 

I never understood why they wouldn’t play The First Noel and Silent Night

and all the other great Christmas songs during the weeks leading up to Christmas,

when everyone else was getting into the Christmas spirit.

 

And furthermore, I never understood why, after the Church finally did play

the good songs on Christmas Day,  that they then went on ...

and continued to play them for another two weeks!

 

The problem was that I didn’t understand the difference between

 the Holiday Season and the Advent Season.

 

While Our Culture wants us to celebrate Christmas from Halloween all the way to Christmas, The Church wants us to wait and celebrate Christmas on Christmas,

using the time before Christmas to contemplate the reality of Jesus’ First and Second Coming ...

and using the time after Christmas to bask in the nearness and goodness of Jesus

 

Let’s trust the wisdom of the Church by using this time of Advent for some personal, prayerful reflection on the wonder of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ,

  1. on how He came to be with us in His Human Body ... some 2000 years ago …

             to save our immortal souls.

  1. on how He has remained with us in His Sacramental Body in the Holy Eucharist ... during our life                    ... to nourish our immortal souls.

.

  1. on how He will come again in His Glorified Body ... at the end of time

      to judge our immortal souls.  

 

 

In our Gospel today, Jesus promises,

“(You) will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

 

This will surely be a time of great tribulation,

and Jesus wants us to do everything we can to be prepared.

 

He  says in Luke’s Gospel today, “Be vigilant at all times and pray

that you have the strength to stand before the Son of Man!”

 

Don’t be distracted by the culture. Prepare your hearts, not just your homes!

 

As you ask your children, “Do you believe that Santa is coming?”

hear the Church asking you, “Do you believe that Jesus is coming?”

 

Let’s become like little children by believing ...

that Someone Special is indeed coming.

 

Yes, He’s making a list and checking it twice

   He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice.

 

And whether you believe in Him or not ...

Jesus Christ is coming to town!

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