Posted in News

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When I was sixty years old, I decided to go to study Canon Law. Many people asked me why I was going to study at that age. My answer to them was and still is “I must prepare myself for the days when I no longer have the energy to run a parish. I need to be able to do something useful. Then as now I would not like to end my days sitting in front of a TV set sipping coffee or scotch. Growing old has made me very aware of the need to prepare myself for a useful retirement and a happy eternity.

Preparing for a useful retirement brought about a change in lifestyle. I began to rise at 4.15am most mornings and go walking. There was a conversion in my life, a change brought about by the doctor who reminded me that my latest studies would help no one if I was not healthy and alive.

As we begin the Advent season, I cannot help but remember my own situation because it reminded me that creative waiting almost always needs a conversion. A prophet must preach to us a baptism of repentance so that we may be converted, and we must have the grace to listen.

The doctor had to remind me, perhaps frighten me into acknowledging that my sedentary lifestyle would not allow me to wait creatively. My acknowledging of this fact about my own life was the catalyst for lifestyle change. It is important for us to remember that Advent is a time of creative waiting, a time in which we reflect on and take more seriously the task of building God’s kingdom, that Kingdom characterized by Justice, Peace and love.

All of us at some time or other have had the experience of positive change coming to us because we listened and we heard.

As we thank God for the prophets in our lives, who have called us to change, we must remember that these calls to change, to conversion are in fact reminders of and symbols of a call to conversion which deals not only with human physical realities but more importantly with spiritual realities.

Advent as we know celebrates waiting in all its dimensions but more especially the creative waiting for God in our lives. Creative waiting for God entails as mentioned above, the building of the Kingdom. The Gospels always remind us that building the Kingdom always entails conversion, a new lifestyle so to speak. The gospels always remind us that The Kingdom is God’s reign of Justice, Peace and love and it is to this that we must be converted, so that our waiting for God in our lives be creative. There are many people and circumstances around us which play the `role of John the Baptist, desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. We hear his voice in the homeless whose plight cries out to us, in those suffering from incurable diseases, in the fight against crime etc. May we listen carefully so that we may hear and like the people around the River Jordan acknowledge our sins and be converted.

 

Prayer.

All powerful and ever-loving God, the memorial of the birth of your Son approaches once again and reminds us your Son will come again. As we await this second coming help us to understand that creative waiting entails a conversion, a change in lifestyle which will facilitate the Coming of your Kingdom. Help us to hear the voice of John the Baptist, calling us to conversion and gives us the Grace to accept that call. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother, the model of creative waiting, and through your Son Jesus. Amen

 

+Most Rev. Joseph E. Harris, C.S.Sp.

         Pontifical Commissary

    By the mandate of his Grace.