I remember the months leading up to the year 2000 as being an anxious time. Some people were anxious because they feared the end of the 20th century may also be the end of the world.
They prepared for the end by stockpiling supplies. Others were anxious that the new millennium would make computers and other digital technology systems go haywire. They prepared for chaos by setting up contingencies and backup plans. In contrast, I remember the Church celebrating these months with joy.
The Catholic Church envisioned the new millennium as a time for jubilee. It would mark 2000 years of Christ coming among us with joy. Preparing for the jubilee year meant focusing on things like lifting burdens, releasing those held bound, reconciling debts and restoring the land. Jubilee time was a time for new beginnings and rejoicing in the hope of the coming of the kingdom of God. While some believed the new millennium would mean the beginning of the end, we celebrated the end as a time for a new beginning of grace and mercy — a time of joyful hope.
Advent season is our annual time of jubilee to begin again and wait in joyful hope. Advent acknowledges the darkness in the world. There are so many reports of people living in situations of violence and war. So many vulnerable people lack the necessities of life and dignity. So many live displaced in their own countries or forced to flee as refugees. So many are affected by the extremes of weather and climate changes. It can feel like the beginning of the end. It is during these darkest times of the year that we proclaim again the coming of Christ to “bring good news to the poor, liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and proclaim a (jubilee) year acceptable to the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19).
Advent announces good news amid all the bad news. The Gospel proclaims light in the darkness and life amid death. We rejoice that God is with us, and that God is for us in Christ. We can imagine a world and lean into a way of living that frees people from prisons of many kinds, which makes it possible for forgiveness and peace to change enemies to friends, heal our relationships with the land and heal the many borders of our world under conflict. We can imagine it because we have seen it breaking forth in the lives and witnesses of God’s people and Christians in the world and building bridges of faith to God’s reign. The Church is meant to be a sign and a sacrament of the world that God intends for us to live in now. We can live out our lives in this world by waiting in joyful hope — a hope that shows itself in loving actions and service. A joyful hope is a way of living life from the view of abundance and gratitude.
When we embrace life as a gracious gift from God, we can live with gratitude for each moment and for each day we are given. The question becomes: How do we want to say “thank you” with our lives?
Advent marks a new beginning of grace and mercy. We can love and serve the Lord among us when we share our gifts to bring release, reconciliation and restoration to God’s people and to all God’s creation. May this season of celebrating the gift of God coming among us open us to a grateful heart as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ.
Deacon Friesen is director of the Center for Mission, which supports missionary outreach of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He can be reached at friesenm@archspm.org.
