Advent trains us to be better deer hunters.... AND better followers of Jesus Christ!

+ J. M. J. +

Draft Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Year B (Readings here)

In recent days, many of us here have spent some time in a deer blind… you get bundled up, you sneak quietly to the blind, and you take up your position. Maybe you’ve got some shooting lanes cleared out, maybe you’ve got some bait out… maybe you’ve been checking pictures on your game camera. And then you wait, and you try to keep every sense taut with expectation!

My dad helping me get my deer blind ready...

I was sitting in my confessional in Bessemer (at my last assignment, St. Sebastian Parish), one day, listening to the building creak, and hoping that someone would come to confession, and it reminded me of something… and I realized that it was like sitting in a deer blind! Sometimes you hear the leaves rustle noisily, and you’re sure it’s a monster buck… and then it’s just a cheeky little red squirrel! In Bessemer I’d be getting all ready to dispense the Lord’s mercy, and then it would just be the building settling!

This is the theme of our Gospel today, as we begin the Advent season… Watch! Be Watchful! Be Alert! This is a continuation of our November theme of death and the end of time… The Church wants us to always be connected and rooted in reality, that this life and world will pass away, that we have here no lasting home… that we are created for a better and more perfect life than this mortal life. As we begin Advent, we are certainly preparing to celebrate Christmas… but we also have much bigger fish to fry! Our reading today are focused much more on Jesus’ Second Coming than on His first… We are to watch not just for Dec. 25th, with all the rich blessings of that feast, but even more for what God is doing now, in our lives!

When you try to sit quietly in a deer blind, you face a number of challenges… I often fall asleep, especially at first. I suspect I may not be the only one to wake suddenly, slumped forward in the blind, unable to see out, and you hear a twig snap. Suddenly you’re completely awake, and you have to move oh-so-slowly to look and see… and then it’s often just that same pesky squirrel! When we sit still, when we try to watch and wait and be alert… it’s easy to get sleepy, to get distracted, to get drowsy… we’re not used to silent and focused observation, we’re used to doing and thinking and being entertained, constant noise, constant motion…

Coming in from the deer blind on a cold clear morning...

This is why the Church slows down the liturgy a bit during Advent: we abstain from the Gloria so that we can hear the words of the angels fresh on Christmas. We’re beginning to use the antiphons this year, so we can listen attentively to choirs’ voices and the words so carefully chosen by the Church for us. We process out in silence… which is awkward and uncomfortable… but potentially very fruitful!

What happens when you get past being drowsy in your blind? You begin to notice a whole bunch of stuff that you don’t normally notice! You hear the wind blow, or a raven’s wings as it flaps overhead… you can hear the difference between a woodpecker and a nuthatch as they look for insects in the bark. You can hear snowflakes falling on dry leaves, and the wind moving pine needles. You can hear a twig snap, and the leaves rustle… and you hope it’s the big one!

When you begin to focus in the blind, especially at dawn and dusk, you often see or hear things that aren’t there! You imagine a stump into the 30-point-Buck… or a branch into a wolf. You stare at something for minutes on end, not quite sure what it is… you stare at the head of a feeding or watching deer, trying to grow antlers!

This can happen in our hearts, too! We won’t fully understand and discern and see what God has done, and what He’s doing, and what He calls us to at first glance. We may initially notice a movement or desire that has to be discerned and confirmed and purified. I will be spending a lot of time helping young men do this as I take on the vocations work, but this applies to all of us. We have to listen for a while to understand what’s there…

And when we do slow down and listen, just like in that deer blind, we will begin to garner insight and self-knowledge. This can happen in our spiritual lives, in our relationships, in our families… if we’ll slow down and listen, we’ll begin to see and hear a bunch of stuff that’s been there all along, but that we’ve been too busy to notice. We might hear something in a loved one’s tone of voice that makes us wonder how they’re doing… we might notice something in our heart that gives us cause for thanksgiving… or maybe something that makes us aware of our need to repent. If we really pay attention, we will begin to notice the movement of the Holy Spirit deep in our hearts and souls, God drawing the deep lasting desires of our hearts towards Himself.

This dynamic certainly didn’t begin with Jesus, even though it did reach its fulfillment and perfection in Him. The prophets spoke to the People of Israel, calling them to this listening and insight. Isaiah called the people to repentance and watchfulness:

Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean people, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.

He also reminded the people of God’s grace at work in them:

O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.

Both pieces are there… as we listen and look within, as we become alert and watchful, we will notice our need for God’s mercy… and we will become aware of great cause for peace, and praise, and thanksgiving!

So how to be watchful and alert this Advent? This can be a training ground not just for Christmas, but for the rest of our lives! I highlighted four simple steps in the bulletin… no surprises here:

1. Pray EVERY day… and take a step deeper! We have our Magnificat Advent Companions with a daily devotion… just one good too
2. Prepare the Sunday Mass… read the readings in advance, pray with them, read the antiphons… the more you prepare, the more you’ll receive. Come early enough to sit still, and quiet yourself, and prepare. You can always find the readings online here.
3. Make a good confession… nothing cleans out your spiritual ears so effectively as the Sacrament of Penance… maybe it’s a little gross, but it’s like a really effective spiritual Q-tip!
4. Share what you have with those in need… many concrete ways available to do that.

That’s definitely not an exhaustive list… but it each one of us watchfully uses those simple disciplines, I guarantee we’ll be better hunters… I mean more faithful followers of Jesus Christ, who comes to us now on this altar!

+ A. M. D. G. +