“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice! Let you moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”
Our Lord’s return is the natural theme of Advent since we could hardly contemplate Jesus’ first advent without giving as much of our attention to his second advent. Peter and Paul for all their differences — in their connections to Jesus, their temperaments, as well as their personal standing within the Church — all that aside, both apostles understood the second coming of Christ to be absolutely expected any moment, to be the definitive end of history, and to be a purifying reality for our moral life right now:
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. I Peter 4:7-8
Here we are right back to the themes of the first Sunday of Advent which is a call to conversion — a conversion that is a result of our realization, our intellectual grasp and our responsible affirmation, aided by Christ’s revelation that the narrative we have entered into, Jesus’ narrative, is coming to its end — that is its consummation, its finalization, its resolution is right around the corner.
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice! Let you moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
This is the sure and certain future of this world, the whole cosmos and St. Paul declares, like Peter, that the knowledge of this future has the power to convert and purify us to live sensibly as Christ would have us live in this present day — living in a world that does not, indeed cannot share our horizon, because our horizon is a gift from God not the achievement of human hands, or good deeds, or well wishes, or all the politics in the world. Furthermore that end is inescapable. Again, as I have now said several times through out Advent, every single probability that is emerging in every single human life is inevitably folding into the narrative of Jesus the Messiah and all that has, all that is, or all that will be in the universe is moving to a finality, a goal, a purpose which is the life story of Jesus the Messiah. And I do not mean that as an abstract concept and certainly not as something mechanical. It is all about history because as soon as God created space and time, history became reality and history is messy. Nevertheless, the whole cosmos has, is, and always will move to its finality, its goal, its purpose in the life story of Jesus the Messiah – and he is the perfect end of all things. And as Peter said a long time ago, that end of all things is at hand. As I have said, our inclusion in Jesus’ life story bestows ultimate meaning upon each of us, as well as bestowing ultimate meaning to whole of humanity. Since the life of Jesus the Messiah enfolds the existence of the whole cosmos, our life in Christ and our life together has cosmic meaning and purpose and I submit to you that purpose is realized and fulfilled through our worship of Jesus the Messiah and our love for one another.
Our Lord’s looming advent means the end of all things and yet we rejoice. St. Paul tells us to “be careful for nothing.” St. Peter tells us to “cast all our care upon Christ because he cares for us,” which is another way of saying what Paul had said. And in both cases the saints are simply saying what our Lord said to the Church: “take no thought or care for tomorrow.” This state of mind is a state of peace; the state of being a Catholic and it is a consequence of believing that “the Lord is at hand.”
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
The word St. Paul uses that is translated as “moderation” is meant to characterize the Christian life as peaceable, nonviolent, quiet, gentle and tender. It is the generous treatment of the other person when the demands of strict justice may even cause injury to one’s self. There are people who will demand every penny due him –- but not this person. Everything is weight in light of what really matters in life. The Christian has insight into himself, he has at least some self-understanding, but most important of all he knows, come what may, he will be safe in the arms of Jesus that prompts him not to be forever standing on his so-called rights.
“In light of our Lord’s return it is high time for you Philippians to get your household in order. Settle your quarrels. Don’t let your personal disagreements splinter your life, splinter your family, or splinter the Church. Don’t allow your personal disagreements to make the Church a joke in the pagan community. The Lord is at hand.”
So let me ask you: Is your household in order? What is most important in your life? As I have said many times before, when you are dying it will not matter that you have been rich, or great, or honored, or privileged, or poor, or influential in the world. Such things are to a degree at least partly accidents of history, but they are full of vanity, self-regard and self-deception. A Catholic has the great advantage of looking at such things now as he will look at them when our Lord returns. The advantage of weighing things as Christ weighs them. It is a pure gift from God to view one’s self with a disinterested and dispassionate eye. The fruit of such self-examination is a heavenly mindedness, Christ mindedness.
May God grant us such growth whether the years roll on or not –- whether his coming is delayed or whether it be today.
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice! Let you moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.