~ These days, many people are preparing. Oh, probably not preparing for the coming of the Son of Man, as we hear in this gospel. More like preparing for Christmas. Black Friday is still going on, and retailers expect the biggest Christmas shopping season ever. When Axel and I went on our evening walk last night, at least 15 houses on Flad and Flora had put up Christmas lights on Friday! We have made the shift from Thanksgiving to Christmas, everywhere, all the time. But we still have a month or so to go before Christmas arrives, so may I propose that we think of this Advent as a journey toward Christmas, or better yet, a pilgrimage toward Christ.
When I was growing up, we had two Christmas trees in our home. First, there was the beautiful aluminum tree that was upstairs in our living room window, which currently can be seen in a second story window of the St. Margaret Rectory, if you’d like to see it. And downstairs, in the family room, where we all gathered, there was a real tree. And many years, that real tree was very real. Some years it was actually shaped like a Christmas tree! Other years, especially when we cut it down ourselves, it was kind of a big blob. More often than not, it had some bare patches that we had to move to the back by the wall. It required constant attention: we had to water it every day and make sure the hot lights were turned off every night. And a couple times, despite our best efforts, that Christmas tree fell over. You who have a real tree in your home know that a living tree takes perseverance, attention, and loving care. But the result of bringing a tree into your home is that it is transformed by that loving care into the centerpiece for the family Christmas celebration. Every year, I thought our downstairs tree was the most beautiful one I’d ever seen!
Like the tree that’s chosen not for what it is, but for what it can become, so too, as God’s people we are always in the process of becoming the best version of ourselves. And we need others, brothers and sisters, leaders and teachers, we need a community to trim, mold, shape, challenge and form us into who God created us to be. We truly are a pilgrim people, constantly journeying, constantly being recreated, constantly moving together forward toward the Kingdom. We long to be a people of peace and justice, compassion and care, faith and light, and each of us is on a pilgrimage to become that person that God created us to be.
When we hear that word – pilgrim, we usually think of the Puritans – especially since we’ve just finished Thanksgiving. But the religious meaning of the word is one who journeys from where they are to where they could be, someone, or some people journeying with God to a new land. The theme of this Jubilee Year 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope”. Yes, we are all pilgrims, hoping for a better tomorrow.
We are reminded of this at every Mass! At every Mass there are processions: the entrance procession, the Gospel procession, the offertory procession, and ultimately the Communion procession. These are not just perfunctory gestures to get us from one place to another; no, they are a sign of pilgrimage, moving us from one place to another – physically, spiritually, emotionally – and reminding us of the pilgrimage of life and faith.
As we begin the season of Advent today, we take our first steps along the way of beginning again.
In our first reading, Isaiah uses the image of pilgrimage to describe a great gathering of the future when all nations will stream toward the mountain of the Lord, the place where God dwells. They will be instructed in the ways of the Lord and, in response, they will “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.” What a beautiful vision for the present and the future!
The responsorial psalm we have sung – Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord! – is a joyous hymn that was originally sung by pilgrims as they journeyed to Jerusalem, the site of the temple, the dwelling place of God on earth.
Today, this psalm invites us to look toward Christmas, and to look forward with joy and anticipation to the celebration of Emmanuel, God with us.
In our second reading, St. Paul tells us what we must do to bring about this vision of peace. He warns against behaviors and actions that can divide and alienate us. If we are genuine pilgrims, we must enter wholeheartedly into the pilgrimage, and leave behind whatever may hinder our progress.
And the Gospel reminds us to be prepared, to be ready, to be vigilant. Even though misfortune and sorrow may come our way, ultimately, heaven awaits, the Son of Man will come, and salvation is ours.
Friends, on this first Sunday of Advent, we set off on a pilgrimage, beginning again. Like a real Christmas tree, we enter into a process – to be trimmed, shaped, molded – by God’s Word, by the sacraments, by community. The result is a marvelous transformation, not only for a tree, but for each of us and for our community. We will be a people ready to welcome Christ because we have prepared well.
Are you ready to begin this journey, not just toward Christmas, but toward Christ?
Let us enter this pilgrimage of Advent with wonder, with joy, and with faith in the Christ who was, who is, and who is to come.