First Sunday of Advent – Year C
Pastoral Visit to Saint Andrew Parish
Homily
[Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25; 1Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36]
It is a delight for me to spend this weekend with you all in the course of my pastoral visit. This gives me an occasion to encounter a variety of parishioners in the context of their particular ministries in service to the parish. In planning for this visit, I told Fr. Andrew that I like to have a full schedule so that I can experience as much as possible of the good things happening here, and he certainly took me at my word. I am deeply grateful to you all for the wonderful witness you are giving to your faith in Jesus Christ and your love for his Church.
Of course, the centre of any pastoral visit is the encounter we have together – Bishop, pastor, consecrated persons, and lay faithful – with our Lord in the Eucharist. It is the privileged moment to ponder his message to us in his sacred Word, and offer our prayerful thanks in the Eucharist. This weekend we have what I call a double context, within which we can receive the divine message. On the one hand we are entering the holy season of Advent, while on the other we mark the feast of this parish’s patron – St. Andrew.
Advent, while it is a time of immediate preparation to celebrate Christmas, also directs our attention toward the second coming of Christ at the end of history. The example of St. Andrew speaks of how we are to live now, as followers of Christ, while we await his final return in glory.
On this first Sunday of Advent, Jesus himself speaks of the end time by describing the wondrous signs that will accompany his decisive arrival. To say that they are horrifying is a great understatement. The Lord acknowledges the terror that will befall the world: “People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world,” he says. But then he goes on immediately to tell his disciples not to be afraid; rather, we are to stand upright with heads raised – a sign of unassailable hope. The reason is that these signs are the immediate prelude to final salvation. In other words, we do not fear because we have placed our entire trust in the power of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ. We know with the certainty of faith that no earthly happening, however frightening, can ever overcome the love of God and His will to bring us to Himself.
That is a very important message for our present day, also. We do not have to wait until the end of time to see happenings that are frightening and worrisome. Think of the wars breaking out with terrifying force around the planet, or the global spread of what Pope Francis accurately calls an ideological colonization, the capture of the mind with ideas contrary to both natural and divine law. Here at home, we see the rapid expansion of an increasingly lethal drug culture, legally sanctioned threats to the sanctity of all human life, and the attenuation of the divinely authored family structure. In this present moment, too, the Lord is calling us to stand upright with heads raised, that is, to be people of hope. Jesus, who will come again, remains here with us now in the power of his love. When we place our full faith in him, he can turn these terrible things into a prelude for his decisive action to transform all to the good, in accordance with his saving purpose. As has always been the case, Jesus is the world’s one and only hope, and he is faithful. In these troubled times, then, our call as the Lord’s disciples is clear: to lead the world to Jesus.
This brings me to Saint Andrew. Recall from the Gospel of Saint John that it was Andrew who led his brother Simon to Jesus. Let’s remember, too, what had to happen first – he spent time with the Lord, and from this encounter was convinced that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. Impelled by that conviction, he went to his brother, told Simon what he had experienced, and then brought him to Jesus. This, in summary form, is how we are to live in the present while we await the Lord’s final return. St. Andrew shows us that our fundamental call is to spend time with the Lord, so that, under grace, we come to know the full truth of Jesus’s identity as Son of God and Saviour, the world’s one and only light and hope. From that awareness we are to go out and bring other people to him.
It is clear to me that you are striving well to live that mission. I see – and have seen for a long time – your commitment to spend time with the Lord, so as truly to encounter him. This is evident in your love for the celebration of the Eucharist, first of all, but also in your dedication to spending time in the Adoration chapel, and in the prayer groups of the parish. What I have witnessed also this weekend is how you move out from your encounter with the Lord to share the good news of his love with others – in the careful and devoted oversight of parish life exercised by Fr. Andrew and the pastoral and finance councils; the support given to our senior parish members, especially at the St. Andrew Centre; the attention given to the youth so that they will come to know the Lord, particularly through the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and the youth group; the outreach of parishioners to the sick and homebound, as well as to the poor and needy through the St. Vincent de Paul Society. There are many other ways that this parish exercises its mission that I have not been able to see this weekend. Thank you for all that you do to grow in your knowledge and love for the Lord and for the many ways you seek to lead others to Jesus and his Church.
The mission remains necessary and urgent. As we await the Lord’s final return in glory, let us now, together, open our hearts to the saving encounter with Jesus Christ given in this Eucharist. May the grace of Holy Communion with the love of our Lord strengthen us with hope in moments of fear and anxiety, and impel us forward in love to lead the world to Christ.
Most Reverend Richard W. Smith
Saint Andrew Parish, Edmonton
November 30th – December 1st, 2024