Jen’s Journal

Ah, Advent is upon us once again, and once again we are faced with an important question: Are we ready?  No, I’m not talking about being ready to get all our Christmas cards mailed out, or ready to go shopping and wrap the presents that we’ve spent the last several days/weeks buying, or even ready to pull those Christmas decorations out of the basement so that we can spend hours fighting with tangled light sets and pricking our fingers on prickly pine branches.  I’m talking about being ready for Christ.

We’ve all heard about the various ways that Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ: Christ as the baby born in Bethlehem, Christ coming into our hearts in the present, Christ coming again at the end of time.  And we say that we are ready for Christ.  But are we really?  If somebody told us that we would die in 2 hours or that the world would be ending the next day, would we be ready?  Would we have all of our relationships in order, all of our debts paid?  Would we be willing to let go of all of our petty grievances, our pleasurable indulgences in gossip and blame, our desire for comfort at all costs?  Or would we ask God to just give us a little more time, to come back again another day after we have had our fill with the things of this world?  Would we be willing to give up earth, this life, for heaven and life eternal?  I’m not sure about you, but I don’t think I’m ready.

In hearing the Gospel reading for today about the servants being ever ready for the Master’s arrival, I thought to myself, “Good thing we have cell phones these days!  The Master can just call ahead whenever he’s coming and we can know to be ready.”  But, I don’t think God always works that way.  Sometimes, he might prepare us for our encounter with him – like when someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness and knows that they have a few months to live – but other times, he is like that unexpected guest who knocks on our door.  Do we open the door and invite the guest in, even though our house is a mess and looks uncared for?  Do we run and hide and pretend like we’re not home out of shame?  Is our house in good enough order to begin with that we don’t have to worry about it being too messy for guests?  Obviously, the last of these options would seem to be the best.  But sometimes it is in engaging in the first of these options that we come to see how important the last of these options is.  And ultimately, we can never keep our house 100% spotless because then we wouldn’t be living, breathing humans.  So, what do we do?  How can we make ourselves more ready for God our visitor?

I think that the best way that we can prepare for the second coming of Christ is to practice welcoming him into our lives each and every day.  If we have a friend that comes to visit us each day, that friend will get used to our house looking lived in, but we’ll also be sure to keep the house in good condition on a regular basis.  And so it is with Christ.  When we visit Christ in prayer each day, we come as we are and God meets us as we are.  But this prayer time also encourages us to examine ourselves, to consider how well we are following God’s commands, how well we are living out our Christian discipleship.  And our guest during this prayer time – Christ – is even willing and able to help us to get things in order.  But welcoming Christ on a regular basis requires going beyond just being present to Christ through special times of prayer.  It means welcoming Christ in other people as well.  When we say hello to someone we pass on the street, when we hold a door for the person behind us, when we visit the sick and imprisoned, when we engage in loving conversation with that person that annoys the heck out of us – when we do any of these things and more, that is when we are most practicing our welcoming of Christ.  And then, when Christ comes in glory at the end of time, we can say, “Finally, the one for whom I have longed is here,” and Christ can say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” in reply.  Because we indeed have been getting our lives in order by welcoming Christ all along.

Peace to you this Advent season.  Get ready.

There’s a country song that goes:

‘Cause there’s holes in the floor of Heaven
and her tears are pourin’ down
that’s how you know she’s watchin’
wishin’ she could be here now
And sometimes if you’re lonely
just remember she can see
there’s holes in the floor of Heaven
and she’s watchin’ over you and me

I’ve always felt a little ambivalent about this song.  I mean, it has a great message, but at the same time, it’s just a little too… I don’t know… sappy or something.  This song has come into my head lately, though, because I kind of think that it might really have some truth to it.  I think our loved ones really are looking down on us and perhaps doing even more good from heaven than they ever could on earth (St. Therese of Lisieux believed this, too, as do those who seek her intercession).  Let me explain…

It’s been just over 2 years since my dad died.  And for those who didn’t know my dad, there are two things that he was passionate about: politics and baseball.  My dad was a die-hard Democrat and a die-hard Orioles fan!  In fact, after my dad died, I joked that maybe the Orioles would finally win the World Series now that dad had heaven on his side.  Unfortunately, this event has not come to pass so far (I guess there are some other die-hard baseball fans in heaven too!), but some other baseball and politics related events have occurred recently that I can’t help but wonder if my dad had a hand in.

Exhibit 1: Barack Obama was elected President of the United States.  While my dad at times let his biases get the best of him, I think he’d be overjoyed that not only a Democrat, but an African American, was elected President.

Exhibit 2: The Baltimore Orioles changed their road jerseys to read “Baltimore” instead of “Orioles”.  This is one of those things that my dad (and a lot of other old-school Orioles fans) had wanted for some time.  I still remember going to Sunday home games with my dad in high school and talking with the other regulars at the stadium about this issue.  Well, it has finally happened: “Baltimore” it is!

Exhibit 3: Mike Mussina won 20 games for the first time in his career.  When I was younger, I LOVED Mike Mussina.  I cried terribly when he went to the Yankees and even gave him a card (in person) telling him how sad I was.  The one thing that my dad and I always talked about regarding Mike Mussina, however, is the fact that he had never won 20 games in a season.  My dad would always lament the fact that the baseball strike of 1994 robbed Moose of several chances to go beyond his 19 wins and finally reach that 20-game threshold.  Without a 20-win season, would Moose even have any chance for the Hall of Fame, despite his great winning percentage?  Well, Moose finally got his 20 wins this year.  And now he’s retiring.

Exhibit 4: George Steinbrenner has handed over control of the Yankees to his younger son.  Like any good Orioles fan, my dad hated the Yankees and George Steinbrenner.  My dad couldn’t wait until Steinbrenner gave up the team.  And now he has!  Not sure how much different his son will be, but at least it’s some kind of change.

So, you see, I think my dad has been pretty busy up in heaven lately.  Now how about that World Series, dad?