Come Divine Messiah - Fill us with your peace

The readings for the second Sunday of Advent all look forward to the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of his kingdom, a kingdom which will be established in justice and peace as the antiphon of the responsorial psalm brings out: “Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.” For the ultimate fulfillment of this promise, we look forward to heaven where “he will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev 21:4) and we will suffer no more; however, while we await with expectation the return of Jesus at the end of the world or at the end of our own lives, we still nonetheless participate in a real although imperfect way in this kingdom right now – Jesus emphasizes in the Gospels that “the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21). In Pope Benedict XVI’s beautiful encyclical letter Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope), he explains that faith is not simply a belief in an eternal life to come; it is rather a “substance,” something real in us, “through which eternal life takes root in us.” Through faith, we begin living the eternal life of the kingdom of heaven now.

                Our participation in the kingdom of heaven is dependent on our response to the grace God offers to us. It is not a static participation where you are either “in” or “out;” rather, it is something in which we can only ever go deeper. The words of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel are perennially relevant to us, calling us to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Turning away from sin, we seek to live in the kingdom of heaven which is a kingdom of peace and of justice with both God and our neighbor: at peace with God through a life in harmony with his will, and at peace with our neighbor, doing justice to him by showing him the love which is his right to receive from us as befitting his dignity as a child of the same Father. The second reading admonishes us in this regard: “welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you.” In the early Church, Tertullian wrote that the pagan’s astonished reaction to the Christians was, “See how they love one another.” Considering how many times the various Christian communities were reminded of the need to love one another in the epistles of the New Testament, this was obviously not something that the early Church did easily or perfectly, but yet they clearly must have been striving for this in such a way that it was evident even to those outside of the community.

The time of Advent is a time of preparation to receive Christ into our hearts in an ever deeper way. A well-known paraphrase of Mother Teresa’s thought goes, “if you want world peace, go home and love your family.” If we truly desire to enter more fully into the promised kingdom of heaven by allowing Christ to live more fully in us, we ought to reflect on what ways in our lives we might reflect a lack of peace and justice towards both God and our brothers and sisters, whether by failing to welcome with love those in our homes or workplaces whom we find difficult or aggravating, by creating injustice within ourselves by leading disordered lives which not only prevent us from living in peace with God, but even with ourselves, or in what ways we fail to fulfill in ways both large and even very small the duties which are part of our state in life, which can often be an injustice towards others who depend on us. All of this will only be able to flow out of a relationship with God as both friend and father whom we approach daily in prayer, and we might further consider whether our life is properly ordered towards God, and whether we set aside the time to spend with him which a genuine relationship requires. As we live more fully in the love of Christ, that life of faith which is the beginning even now of eternal life in us, we will reflect ever more the peace that only comes from Christ, no matter what troubles the world may bring.