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The Catholic Telegraph
December 8, 2000The second and third Sundays of Advent show us John the Baptist at work. He is proclaiming to the people of his time the advent of the teaching, healing, and saving public mission of Christ. But what he proclaims is offered in the context of the final triumph of God’s love when "every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low."
The second reading for this second Sunday of Advent in year C is from the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Almost all of Paul’s letters begin with a paragraph or so of thanksgiving to God for His gifts to the addressees and a prayer for the continuance of those gifts. The letter to the Philippians (for whom Paul had a special affection) is no exception.
This Sunday’s reading offers us excerpts from the petitionary part of the letter’s opening. Paul expresses his affection for the Philippians and prays for them with joy in view of their faithfulness to the gospel. He is confident that God will continue His work in them and bring it to fulfillment in "the day of Christ Jesus." He prays that they will grow in love, in knowledge, and in the ability to discern where goodness lies. The result of such growth will be that they will be appropriately prepared for "the day of Christ", filled with the holiness ("righteousness") of Jesus that will enable them to offer glory and praise to God.
There are at least three important teachings for us in these verses, three items of instruction to guide our Christian life during these weeks of Advent - and beyond.
The basic truth on which Paul is basing his prayer for the Philippians is that Christian believers have been gifted with holiness, with "righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ." This is the holiness or righteousness that Christian reflection has called "grace," and which consists in our sharing the life of the Lord Jesus, both human and divine. The good work that God has begun in us is this participation in the life of the risen Jesus. That’s the foundation on which all of Christian life and virtue is based. That’s the basic reality that makes us Christians. That’s what gives meaning to everything else.
The second truth that is involved in Paul’s prayer is that the life of Christ in us involves growth and development. It is not an object but a relationship, a relationship of love, of God’s love for us and of our love in return for God in and through Christ, a re4lationship in which our love can grow. This is why Paul can pray that God will continue to work on what He has begun in us and that our love may "increase more and more."
This love (the sharing of ourselves in response to the goodness of God and of our neighbor) is the basic Christian virtue. It is the goal toward which our faith is directed. Christian love, however, is not a matter of feeling or emotions, like the romantic love of the movies. It is a matter of the will: willing to respond to God’s love for us, wanting and willing what is beneficial to our neighbor. It involves knowledge (grateful and obedient recognition of God’s demands) as well as discernment (a practical understanding of how moral principles are to be applied). This love and knowledge and discernment will help us understand and appreciate what is important in the project that God has undertaken in us and assist us in our participation in its development.
Finally, this Sunday’s reading reminds us that God’s association with us is directed toward a final purpose, toward the one event of salvation that is still to come: the day of Christ when all God’s plans for us human creatures will come to definitive fulfillment, when all creation will be finally united to Father and Holy Spirit through the life of the risen Son.
God’s initial gift of faith and life, our response and growth in love, ultimate fulfillment in Christ "for the praise and glory of God": that’s the pattern of Christian life that Paul outlines in His thanksgiving and prayer for the Philippians. That’s the pattern of life that God sets out for each one of us.
The initiative of Christian life is God’s, not ours. We cannot produce our own salvation. We cannot provide definitive worth for ourselves. Yet we do have a part to play in our life in Christ. We are called to love, to love God in return for the generosity that has been shown to us, to love ourselves insofar as we are God’s redeemed creatures, and to love our neighbor in the context of his or her relationship with God. By the love we express for our neighbor, for ourselves, for God we contribute to the work that God has undertaken in us. We become collaborators with God in His plan for each and all of us. We help God make us "pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness."
Advent keeps us conscious of where we are supposed to be headed. It reminds us that Christ will come again to take us and our world definitively to Himself in love. But it also teaches us that, although the final act of salvation is the day of the Lord, it is our day, too.
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Conversation Questions
How am I conscious of the righteousness or holiness of Christ in me?
How do my personal goals and ambitions harmonize with the day of the Lord?
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