2 Sunday Advent, 8 December 2013, Matthew 3:1-12

Nelson Mandela, 1918 - 2013

Four years ago, in 2009, a film was released starring Morgan Freeman in the part of Nelson Mandela, and Matt Damon acting the part of Francois Pienaar, Captain of the Springboks, South Africa’s Rugby team. The film was entitled ‘Invictus’, a latin word meaning ‘unconquered’.

The film tells the story of Mandela’s 1990 release from prison, and his 1994 election as President. Specifically, the film focuses on the real tensions that remained between whites and blacks in a post-Apartheid South Africa. In the midst of this difficult situation, South Africa was about to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Mandela was very aware that sport, and especially Rugby, could either unite South Africa as one nation, or divide it up along colour lines. So, he invites the Captain of the Springboks, played by Matt Damon, to come and visit with him at the President’s offices in Johannesburg. And so, the story goes on – Mandela convinced Captain Francois Pienaar to engage in a nationwide tour of solidarity in the run up to the World Cup. Mandela honoured the white history of the Springboks, which symbolised white supremacy in South Africa, but he called on the newly established, almost entirely black, national sports council to row in and support the Springboks as the national team. Mandela knows that the team have the capacity to unite white and black South Africa.

Obviously the story that I have just shared with you is inspired by the death of Nelson Mandela a few days ago. Remembering him inspires us to never give up hope. His address to the Houses of the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) in 1990 drew on our Irish heritage of having overcome colonial oppression. He implied there that the Irish nation were an inspiration to him in his campaign for a more just and equal South Africa.

As we stumble into the Second Sunday of Advent, the death of such an inspirational person gives us pause to remember. To remember his 27 years in prison, unjustly placed there on trumped up charges. Gospel values, which were an important cornerstone of Mandela’s life, also give us pause to remember that we too must work hard to bring about the values of God’s Kingdom. Values like justice and equality for every person, values like the dignity of every human being, values like the dignity of human work, besides much more.

As we prepare for the great festival of Christmas, for the moment of God become one of us, for the feast of the incarnation, the enfleshing of God, we need the story of the gospel to give flesh to the values we have been speaking about. The stories we tell define who we are. And the gospel, for us Christians, is the most definitive story of all. Listening to the story of the gospel forms us into the full human beings that Jesus wants us to be.

‘Repent’ is the key verb in the gospel for this Sunday: “Repent,” John the Baptizer says, “for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.” As the Lord approaches, so also does his kingdom, i.e. God’s way of living – this is God’s ‘House’, or family, in the world; [the oikonomia (economy, literally house-rules)] the Church of Jesus Christ that every human being is invited to be a part of.

Repentance is never a looking backwards to some previous ‘perfect’ time. Repentance is about being forward-looking, it is about shaping our heart to God’s heart more and more. It sometimes entails a frank acknowledgement, confession and contrition for wrong-doing on our part. We may also need to make satisfaction for what we have done wrong by doing some penitential act, and of course receiving the Sacrament of Confession. But that negative aspect of repentance is only one side of the coin. We may turn away from our sinful preoccupations, but if we do, we are also turning in hope to the God who compassionately loves each and every one of us.

This turning again to God we can do in many ways: by praying and meditating on Scripture, which we can easily do by use of the Rosary in our daily prayer. We can begin to allow the gospel values of preparation, of hope and of joy to shape our family life, and also our workplace activities. We can choose to be upbeat about the future, all the while remaining grounded in our own history and our own story. We can choose hopefulness, much like Nelson Mandela chose to be hopeful, every day of those 27 years behind bars.

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

1st Sunday Advent, 30 November 2013, Matthew 24:37-44

In the summer of 2007 I had just been ordained as a deacon. It was the summer before my ordination as a priest. During that summer I spent a month in a parish of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in California. Spending a month in America was about killing two birds with one stone; I wanted to get a holiday and I also wanted to get some parish experience.

One night, about two weeks into my stay, I was brushing my teeth before going to bed. Suddenly the bathroom window began to shake and rattle. I didn't know what was going on, and at first I thought that someone was trying to break into the house.

Then, I saw the mirror over the sink. It was swaying in and out from the wall. It was then that I realised that I was experiencing my first earthquake! It measure 4.1 on the richter scale and it woke up many people in the neighbourhood.

In California earthquakes are commonplace. But, even though I knew that, I just presumed it would never happen while I was there. I presumed wrong. If it had been a more serious quake I wouldn't have been at all prepared, and God only knows what might have happened.

The Gospel call on this first Sunday of Advent, is to become prepared, to stay awake because we do not know when the time will come. The day and the hour of the gospel, this is God's time. It is a time that we are not ready for, a time that we need to become ready for. And for us believing Christians, we are reminded today that this really should not be a surprise for us. God’s time and God’s actions may not be predictable; but that God is with us, communicating himself to us is surely no surprise to us. We have been learning about this since our earliest days.

Advent is not about staying awake to wonder when the end of time will be. Advent is about recovering that which has become hidden in us over time. It is about waking up from our spiritual darkness and assuming a position of waiting, of waiting, fully prepared for the coming of the Lord. It is like ‘reheating’ our spiritual selves. We are to come awake again out of the slumber of our everyday existence. What we know in our minds, we must allow to come alive again in our hearts. God is with us. God chose to send his Son among us, as one of us. It is in and through our encounter with God in the readings, in Eucharist celebrated and Communion shared; in prayer, and in the Sacraments, that we are prepared for our ultimate encounter with the Lord, face to face.

So, our readings today are all about time, and about coming awake again in time. Maybe today is a good time to remember all that has happened over this past year, to remember the tragedies and failures, the successes and joys. As we light each candle on our Advent wreath, we mark both the year that has been and the time that is to come. Lighting the candle is lighting up our hope again.
To pray, remember and give thanks to God for all that has been, and to look forward with hope to the coming Kingdom of our Saviour, Christ Jesus the Lord.