How To Celebrate Advent In A Pandemic
How to celebrate and live the hope, peace, love and joy of Advent during a pandemic
As this never-ending pandemic continues, things seem to be getting worse. Here in Trinidad and Tobago, more and more people are dying. Globally, this is our second Advent in this pandemic, and from the looks of things, it won’t be our last. I myself am under quarantine having tested positive for Covid-19. I am grateful to God for the wisdom to have chosen to be vaccinated. Otherwise, I may not be writing this post. So how do we celebrate Advent in a pandemic such as this?
In Advent, we prepare for the coming of Christ. Many look at it only in terms of preparing for the coming of Christ at Christmas; but it is much more than that for Christ, the Son of the Living God did come into the world two thousand plus years ago, and He continues to come to us in our day to day lives, and He will come to us at the end of our lives. So there are three separate movements that we need to look at:-
- The fact that Christ came and what our response should be
- Recognizing that He continues to come to us in many and various ways. Do we see Him? Do we recognize Him?
- He will come at the end of time – at the end of your time and mine, and also at the end of all time. How we lived out the previous two “comings” will be quite crucial in this final coming.
The first coming of Christ into the world – that we celebrate at Christmas – is a historical fact. So much so that all of time takes its cue from this great event in human history. Sad to say, but many do not understand what we celebrate at Christmas and why. As I am writing this, I remembered years ago, I was going to a retreat with a very good friend. It was night time. One of the roads we had to travel along did not have many street lights. As we drove, he spotted a puppy at the side of the road, and fearful that it could get killed, he asked me to stop, so that he could put it in a safer place. So I did. He got out of the car, took the puppy from where it was, and placed it a good way away from the road. While this little incident does not really do justice at all to why Christ came on the first Christmas day, hopefully it will help.
God loves us far more than we can ever understand or imagine. His desire is that all of us will enter into eternal life with him. He desires all of us to be saved and to live with him in heaven for eternity. Nothing that is unclean can enter into heaven. Nothing that is unclean can enter into eternal life. It is for this reason that Jesus, the spotless Lamb, came into our broken world as the Saviour of the world, to put us in a ‘safer place’ just as my friend put that puppy in a safer place. A whole lot has already been written about this. Many, many books have been written about the love of God that is so mind-blowing. So I will not go into much more detail here. Know that the first Christmas came about because of God’s extreme love for us. The question however remains, “how should we respond to God’s seemingly extravagant love for us?“ Put into the context of our present situation, how should we respond to God‘s incredible love for us during this pandemic? The answer or answers to this will lead us to recognizing Christ’s coming to us in our day-to-day lives – the second movement.
One day, Jesus was asked, ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself.’
The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged our entire world leaving even the best of economies in shambles. The impact on struggling economies has been devastating. If we localize this, COVID-19 has negatively impacted every single one of us but more so the poor. The poor are made to suffer even more as a result of this pandemic. Many have been made jobless as a result of this pandemic. Many who were once holding secure jobs found themselves in a position of unemployment, and the inability to meet their financial goals. I have heard many sad stories of families being put out on the streets because of a total loss of income due to this pandemic.
But not all have suffered the same fate as the poor. There are many who have not lost their jobs and who have not lost any of their income. What should be their response? Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers or sisters, that you do on to me. Conversely, whatsoever you failed to do to the least of my brothers or sisters, that you failed to do on to me. That scripture passage taken from Matthew chapter 25, challenges us to see Christ in others. It challenges us to look towards the third and final encounter with Christ: at the end of time when he will return as judge. One of the things that this pandemic has certainly done is bring us to the awareness that regardless of who we are, we will all die. This may sound rather morbid but it is the truth. COVID-19 has reminded us all of this – we will all die one day. We therefore should not live our lives as if life here on earth is all that there is. It is not. There is so much more that awaits.
So going back to our original question of ‘how do you celebrate the Hope, Peace, Love and Joy of Advent during this pandemic? How do we prepare for the coming of Christ during these very difficult times? There seems to be so much bad news all around. How do we celebrate hope and peace and love and joy amidst all of this? There is a foundation I think, a foundation of faith that has to be built. It is a foundation of faith in God no matter what and in spite of. It is a faith in knowing that HE alone is God, and that HE loves us more than we can ever imagine. It is a faith in knowing that HE has given it all for you and for me. St Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “After saying this, what can we add? If God is for us, who can be against us? Since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him he will freely give us all his gifts?” (Romans 8: 31-32) Many years ago, I heard this Word for the first time at a retreat, and it completely blew me away. My life I can safely say, has never been the same after that. I may not always understand what is happening around me, or why, but knowing this truth makes a huge, huge difference. This I believe is the starting point for the foundation of living and enjoying the hope, the peace, the joy and the love of Advent in a broken world, during a pandemic. So in summary, here are three points I wish to share:-
- Allow the truth of the first coming of Christ to rest deep within your heart and your soul. Because of that first coming, know and understand how much God loves you. When you have come to that appreciation of what God has done by sending Christ Jesus, His Son, into the world to save you and me, transformation will take place. You will see things differently. It all begins there. Without this as your foundation, it is very difficult – if not impossible – to go any further. So beg God to reveal to you the power of his love in sending his Son as the perfect, spotless Lamb of God. It is very easy to see the others with this foundation in place.
- Seeing Christ in others. In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus identifies himself with the poor, the homeless, the jobless, the prisoner, the deranged, the scorned, the person infected with Covid-19. Jesus also comes to us and waits on us in the most holy Eucharist. During this time of pandemic, many have gotten into the habit of “taking in Mass remotely.” Even after economies, and churches have been reopened, they will go anywhere else, practicing all the protocols, but to Holy Mass where Jesus awaits, they will not go. Something is not right there.
- Finally, recognizing that one day we will die. Live each day with this reality in mind. Depending on how we lived out the previous two points will determine how we will face this reality. If we live the previous two points the right way, we can and will face this reality with great joy.
