Recollection Talk on Preparing for ADVENT

Recollection Talk on 
Preparing for ADVENT

(To the Diocese of Vijayawada, 2023) Dear Bishop and Priests in the Lord,

Good Morning to all of you!

I feel privileged to be with you this morning to give the recollection talk. This is my first talk to a large group of priests other than a recollection talk in our Vicariate, a couple of months ago. Thank you for the opportunity. Feel honoured and blessed!

Let us begin our reflection by reading the Emmaus Story.

We are in the season of Advent. It is both Preparation and Waiting. We prepare and wait for Christmas and, remotely for the Lord’s Second coming! So, I thought of sharing my reflection today on the season of Advent. It is to help to make a meaningful Preparation and Waiting!

First, I would like to share a beautiful Jewish Story, as a starting point for our reflection!

There was a man called Abraham, who was very poor but extremely generous. He shared everything he had and opened his heart to the distress of the needy he met on his way. And now the spell turned for him. He began to earn a lot of money. And as his wealth accumulated, his heart was closed.

One day, a rabbi came to meet him. And he sees the splendid house that Abraham had built and admires the beauty of the place.

Suddenly stopping in front of a large mirror at the entrance, he asked: “Abraham, who do you see in this Mirror?” A little surprised by the question, Abraham, standing in front of the mirror, answers, “I see myself there.” And the rabbi continues,
“Tell me, Abraham, do you know what a mirror is made of?” And Abraham replies, “Of course, it is made of glass”. “And the window?” the rabbi asks. “Also of glass,” he answers.

The Rabbi, with a touch of finesse, said to him then, “I do not understand very well. The window is made of glass, and the mirror is also made of glass. So why, through the window pane, we see the whole world, while through the mirror, you see only you alone? “Very simple,” Abraham replied. “The window glass is pure and clear, which is why it is transparent. But the glass of the mirror is silver on the other side; that’s the reason it reflects my face, and I see myself.” And all of a sudden, Abraham understood the lesson that the rabbi wanted to communicate with him.

Our goods, our assets, our knowledge, our power, can sometimes be an obstacle or the place of the meeting with the other. What am I doing with my goods? A Window or a Mirror!

Pope Francis invites us to transform our mirrors into transparent windows, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to open our hearts to the needs of our brothers and sisters in humanity. Pope Francis tells us, “We are so caught up in a culture that makes us look in the mirror and take care of ourselves.”

So for this Christmas, I want to become a transparent window through which I can see the realities of life; I see my co-priest, the people in my parish and everyone whom I meet in my life.

Let’s ask for this grace to the Lord and pray that we can make all the places where there are mirrors, obstacles in the face of the other, into windows open to the other.

Lord, on this day, I do not want to look at myself, but look at you. Only you can transform my heart. I contemplate you, and I learn to love, so that the obstacles of my mirror may disappear, and my window may open.

Adventus is joining a hope that has come. What is Advent, really? It is Preparation, both externally and internally, before the celebration of Christmas, Christ’s birth. I would like to pose a question for self-reflection: We as priests try to help others, especially the people in our parishes to prepare for Christmas. These coming days, we organize a lot of programs for the people - like retreats, Confessions, preparing Stars, Cribs, Church decorations, Greeting cards, Christmas gifts, Anticipated Christmas celebrations that involve messages, songs, dances, cakes and so on… We do all these not merely for the sake of doing, but we do sincerely to help our people to celebrate a meaningful Christmas. That is very true!

BUT what about us! Helping others to prepare is not the same as preparing ourselves! During Advent, we prepare for the coming of the Lord. We should be like the Virgin Mother Mary, who prepared to receive the Lord. So preparation of the self, of the family / Diocese, and of the community!

Advent is Preparation. Our life is an extended advent. That means we always have to be prepared. It is not just four Sundays before Christmas, but prepare always.

Now, let me come back to the Jewish story. What we learn from the story is to remove the obstacles, viruses of our mirrors, and transform them into transparent windows.

The obstacles we have are Insensitivity, self-entitlement, and Limitlessness. To overcome these obstacles, let us take the model of Emmaus. We must have three important graces:

(1). Grace of PRESENCE: Jesus appears to the two disciples along the way. He was initially NOT speaking. He was just there walking with them.

It is so important to empathize with others, that is, to understand others. Be present to each other.

(2). Grace of LISTENING: During the whole walk, Jesus first listened to them. Listening is the most difficult skill to learn and practice. Mutual listening helps us in which everyone has something to learn.

E.g., Jesus is a man of listening and dialogue. The life and ministry of Jesus are the complete listening of others and having dialogue with them.

(3). Grace of COMMUNION: Then, Jesus breaks the bread and eats with them. When we eat with people, we become part of them. When we eat what is common, we become like those we eat with.

After the experience with Jesus:

-         Their hearts were burning

-         They went back to Jerusalem

-         They looked for their brothers and sisters

-         They said that they saw the Lord and learned that they did too

-         They were ready to face their situation

-         They dispersed in different mission places

-         They built communities and took care of each other.

So, we learn that there are three ways that Christ comes to our lives? ADVENT is LOVE coming.

(i). Christ came 2000+ years ago as a human person. This is the greatest gift of God – God became like us in all things but sin.

(ii). Christ is coming again, in the Parousia. This is what we are waiting for - His second coming. We do not know when, but in faith we believe he will come “in a time we know not.”

(iii). Christ comes to us every day – as he came to the disciples on the way to Emmaus; Jesus came to many after his Resurrection and continues to come every day in our lives. He comes to us in our examination of conscience. God is in heaven, but equally He is with us, in us, and around us. Recognizing it is ADVENT.

Therefore, Advent is daily for God who is present as LOVE.

To make our Advent fruitful, let us have four important things in our lives:

(1). GRATITUDE: It is the greatest attitude that we must have, and let us practice it daily. True Gratitude is not only saying THANK YOU, but living thank you or living the gratitude. How to live it?

(i). To realize that we are receivers. We are beneficiaries of someone else’s generosity

(ii). We value not only what we receive but the giver. By taking responsibility and custody of what was given

(iii). The realization that we have received leads us to a commitment to giving. A grateful person knows how to give, to share

(2). FORGIVENESS: It is a decision.

(i). it is an attitude of not holding on to hurts and other negativities, which you truly deserve

(ii). Forgiveness is not for the forgiven, but the forgiver; it is we who suffer if we do not forgive

(iii). True forgiveness balances charity and justice

(iv). To forgive is not to forget; it is to learn a lesson

(3). COMPANIONSHIP: It is not where you are in life. It is who you have by your side that matters! It is a life lived in and for others

(i). We are not alone. We are never alone. Often, we witness God’s coming with a community

(ii). Companionship is my brothers and sisters keepers; it is the spirituality of stewardship and synodality: fraternal collaboration and discernment. ‘Collectiveness’ is the inner fibre of synodality. Synodality designates ‘the specific’ of the Church, the ‘People of God’. It reveals and gives substance to her being a ‘communion’. It refers to all the members of the Church ‘journeying together, gathering in assembly and taking an active part in her evangelizing mission’.

(iii). Life has three dimensions: life in relation to oneself, life in relation to others, and life in relation to God, who is the source of life.

(4). FAITH and SPIRITUALITY: Faith will always lead us to companionship and community. We are not meant to live alone. Faith is not a feeling. It is a choice to trust in God even when the road is uncertain. The spirituality of “daily life” is Advent.

To explain further, like life, faith too has three dimensions: faith in oneself, faith in others, and faith in God. These three aspects of life and faith are mutually related and can never be separated from each other. When one shares one’s faith as well as one's life with the other, life and faith get their true meaning.

So, we will always love to wait in Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Companionship.