Greetings my brothers and sisters,
The Advent Season is once again upon us. As we prepare for the Christmas celebrations, one of the
invocations we are encouraged to use, and which is found very prevalent in our liturgical celebrations, is
“Come Lord Jesus, come!” As we might recall, this is invoking Jesus to come both as he did at Christmas,
as he will at the end of time and as he does in each moment. However, this presupposes both that we
want Jesus to come and that we are prepared for when he answers our invocation and comes to us.
Now, are these presuppositions true for each one of us? Do we want Jesus to come at this time? Are we
truly prepared when he does come (for he will surely come!)? Are we truly expecting the world and time
to come to an end or do we live as if these are only theories and not realities? Are we preparing each
day for these realities?
These are fundamental questions and we need to have answers to them in order to sincerely and
truthfully use the invocation “Come, Lord Jesus, come!” Otherwise, we are only saying the words and
not expressing a true desire which comes from deep within. In order to ensure that our answers to these
questions are, “Yes”, we have to reach out to Jesus each and every day and seek to know, love and serve
him. This is certainly true if we wish to discover our vocation. Since it is Jesus who calls, we cannot hear
that call if he does not come to us!
If we reach out to Jesus each day, then we become accustomed to the presence and power of the Lord
Jesus. This power sustains and animates each of our actions. We come to know Jesus better and begin
to depend on his presence and power to guide and uplift us. If he were to withdraw his presence and
power we would feel lost and alone. This is, in fact, the experience of the spiritual giants of our faith.
The “dark night of the soul” is the sensation that God has abandoned the soul which feels alone but
because the soul has nurtured a close relationship with Jesus over the years, the sensation is not able to
overcome the faith that He is still present even if the presence is not felt. This is the faith we need to
cultivate each and every day by turning to Jesus in prayer and by living the Gospel in each and every
moment. When we do this, then we truly are willing and ready to use the invocation, “Come, Lord Jesus,
come” with all sincerity and openness.
If, on the other hand, we do not cultivate this relationship with Jesus and seek to live our lives as we see
fit, only calling upon Jesus when we are at our wits end, then we do not sincerely and openly invoke him
out of a faith in his abiding presence. We look to Jesus, in this case, only to solve our dilemma or
problem. Once solved, we once more turn away from him and seek our own will and pleasure. Clearly, if
we live our lives in this way, we will not want to have Jesus truly come to us in all moments. And this
means we will not be ready and willing to have him come when he does come at the end of time. He will
catch us off guard and not vigilant, like a thief, as he himself says.
We can see here the importance of a daily prayer routine which opens us to the presence of God. If we
are thus open, we are more likely to discover God present in the moment and to be comfortable to turn
to him both when we are doing well and when we feel in trouble. We will invite him to come to us and
truly mean it. We also see the importance of having regular recourse to the sacraments of the Eucharist
and of Reconciliation. Jesus in the Eucharist comes to us in his body and blood to nourish and strengthen
us and in Confession to forgive and heal us of our sinfulness. Again, if we are regularly turning to the
sacraments with an open heart, we are really saying, “Come Lord Jesus, come”…and He comes!
Wishing you all the blessings and graces of the Advent and Christmas Seasons.
St. Joseph Marello, pray for us.
Fr. Brian, OSJ
