Hagelin 1 Advent B pg. 1 I. YOU HAD ONE JOB! Have you ever heard this phrase before? It is most commonly used to express disbelief at how badly someone did their task: You had one Job. [slides] II. Gatekeeper In today s Gospel the Lord Jesus compares each of us to a gatekeeper. A gatekeeper is a full time guard at the main entrance of a grand estate or palace. The gatekeeper has one job: to WATCH! ; to not fall asleep, meaning our one job IS to stay awake for Jesus coming. Advent is a yearly focus on spiritual wakefulness. I don t know about you, but every year I come to Advent with the best of intentions: I say that THIS WILL BE THE YEAR that I stay centered, and not get swept along in the shopping, and the planning and the holiday parties and the obsessing about Christmas Masses. And what happens? I almost always look back, and shake my head and say to myself: you had one job! Given the last few weeks focus on the Last Judgment we might be tempted to view today s parable through the lens of the Final Judgment and the Master s punishment of a sleeping gatekeeper. When we hear the parable that way, it plays on fear and puts the emphasis on the future; but we must avoid conflating or combining parables because today parable, mentions neither the final judgment 1 nor the Master catching a sleeping gatekeeper. Put aside, now, any thought of the future or punishment. Today, I want you to focus on what YOU - the gatekeeper missed out on if you were sleeping. What do you miss because of inattentiveness right now, in daily life? Why might being on WATCH matter? Because Jesus makes clear that our one job as Christians is loving God and neighbor. But you cannot love God and neighbor if you are not attentive to God and neighbor. Fair enough? Advent is a campaign for watchfulness in the daily-ness of life. 1 Today s Gospel is placed in the context of the Lord s Second Coming, but that part was left out of the Lectionary for today. Matthew 13, moreover, mentions nothing about the Master finding them asleep or punishing unfaithful servants unlike the similar Parables.
Hagelin 1 Advent B pg. 2 You are a sleeping gatekeeper if you are not aware of the many opportunities God presents Himself at your gate, at your door every day. There is literally no person here in this Church today for whom the Lord Jesus is not at least a couple times a day initiating contact, conversation, encounter. Even if you never knew this, it s still true. There is literally no person here in this Church today for whom the Lord Jesus is not at least a couple times a day initiating contact, conversation, encounter. Keep that in mind now. III. Expectancy The heart of the one who is on watch, and expectant for relationship with God is wellexpressed in today s First Reading. Isaiah begins: You, Lord, are our father, our redeemer.forever. Step 1: God is our Father who loves us this is intimate and personal language expressing relationship, folks. Isaiah then says: Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down. Step 2: here we see a desire to encounter God. And God the Son DID rend the heavens and come down- did he not? In Jesus Christ. At the Called & Gifted Seminar we heard the following Pope Francis quote: I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them. 2 It s that simple: #1 relationship with God as Father, and #2 an eagerness (or at least openness) to encountering the Lord Jesus that two-step is the precondition for being a willing and successful gatekeeper. Because why would you wait and be eager to encounter someone you don t love. IV. Hardness of Heart Of course that two-step of heart-felt knowledge of God s love and eagerness to encounter Him is not a given for us. In our First Reading, Isaiah laments his own and his nation s 2 Evangelii Gaudium #3
Hagelin 1 Advent B pg. 3 hardness of heart. I do not think too many people directly & deliberately choose to harden their hearts to God. Why does it happen then? You see, the people in our life show us love imperfectly or even badly. This leaves every person wounded or insecure to some degree scar tissue hardening of heart. Deep down fear of rejection or abandonment, and anger at hurts experienced; bubble up as anxiety and insecurity; and leads to surrounding oneself with obstacles to true communion with God and others to use Isaiah s words today even mild hardness of heart results in wandering and ceasing to be mindful of God. If you have been hurt deeply, you will naturally tend to protect yourself from being hurt again, close off from trust and communion, and put up walls perhaps even be festering in buried anger or resentment. One s heart is hardened to the love God wishes to bestow there. Or maybe you were never hurt deeply, but you never found the love and unconditional acceptance you longed for in your parents, friends, siblings or romantic relationships. And what does that lead to? Vain attempts of grasping for love and acceptance in success, security, pleasure, honor. All are hollow, and cheap counterfeits for the true communion for which you were made. Those counterfeits blind you and harden your heart to the true & unconditional love and acceptance the Lord Jesus offers. If you consider your inability to get a good Advent together, or your unwillingness to take your Faith as seriously as you should as simple distraction, or the function of a lack of time, you need to look deeper. It much more likely results from a hardness of heart born of not experiencing love the way God meant you to receive it. Are you willing, seriously now, to consider setting aside the walls you have up, and recalibrate how you seek love and acceptance? [long pause] V. Joy Dear friends in Christ, what does a sleeping gatekeeper miss out on? Joy. The ability to be surprised: by God. By joy. By love.
Hagelin 1 Advent B pg. 4 Our First Reading promises to the alert gatekeeper: Pope Francis again said: No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him. I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them. 3 That openness requires vulnerability. One marvelous mystery of the manger we will contemplate in a few weeks time is the utter simplicity and vulnerability of our God, lying in a manger. Will you allow your heart to be softened, vulnerable to God s mercy and love? VI. Practical Again, you have one job. To love God and neighbor. But you cannot love God and neighbor without a daily deepening watchfulness for the Masters many daily arrivals and invitations in your life, and attentiveness to those neighbors He brings you to love. During this Advent campaign for watchfulness, I hope you will take time to pray each day. To speak to Him heart to Heart, so that He can soften your heart. Read just a few lines of the Gospels every day; attend daily Mass if able. Do acts of charity and service. As a said, hardness of heart results when one has been hurt, or felt unloved and then chosen counterfeit loves (honor, pleasure, power, wealth, success); THAT is the main cause of distraction, dissatisfaction and falling spiritually asleep to the Lord s Goodness. Wednesday is our Advent Penance Service 6 priests will be here. Even if it has been decades since you have been to Reconciliation, be not afraid of this beautiful opportunity to forgive those who have hurt you or failed to love you as you deserve to be loved. Reconciliation is a place to open your heart to Jesus, the only One who can love you the way you desire to be loved, and to receive His Mercy, which makes your heart like the Sacred Heart of Jesus; so that you can love your neighbor as He has loved you. 3 Evangelii Gaudium #3
Hagelin 1 Advent B pg. 5 Finally and again: You have one job; and it is the most rewarding one of all being alert and watchful to how the Lord Jesus desires to be in daily contact. If you are open to this relationship, and daily encounter, I promise you will find that you CAN be surprised by God. Surprised by Joy. Surprised By love. Praised be Jesus Christ.