Nov. 28, 2009: 1st Sunday of Advent (C)

This Thursday night as my parents and I were having dinner, mom said that she wanted to wake up early in the morning at 5 to go shopping on Black Friday. I tried to dissuade her because there would already be thousands of people in line when she gets there. Sometimes a picture is worth thousands of words, so I showed her a YouTube clip of people rampaging through the entrance of a Walmart, trampling few folks and injuring them, including a pregnant woman. So we decided to go around 8 in the morning instead. When we got there, there were cars but no line or stampede. On the shelves, all the 'door-buster' items were picked clean, including the display models. There were some signs of rampage, with merchandise misplaced here and there on the shelves. If we wanted to see some positive in all this, I suppose it was  great physical exercise for folks who wanted to lose few pounds gained from their Thanksgiving meals.

We then drove to a large mall. I noticed in the center of the mall foyer was a gigantic Santa's house including the camera crew and the equipment to capture our little children making requests to Santa on his knee. Next to his house was a gigantic Polar Express train along with the camera equipment. Knowing that this Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent, I looked around to see if there was another house built next to these setup which really represents the Advent. But I did not see it. Perhaps they couldn't afford to build it due to budget cuts. I'm talking about a stable with animals and figurines with an empty manger in the center. Perhaps they forgot or ran out of room on the foyer floor. Yet I wonder what message children are receiving when they come to a mall. Is the Advent about the arrival of a long awaited white bearded man in his red trousers and fluffy pom-pom on his hat?

This week we light the first candle on the Advent wreath. As we light it we remind ourselves of the promise God made in the First Reading of the Old Testament. "The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah." Promise requires waiting. And how we wait matters. The Saturday after the Black Friday, I looked at some of the photos that reporters captured at Walmart, Best Buy, and Toys R Us on Black Friday morning. These photos showed that people were remarkably very good at waiting a long time even when the line was 3,000 people long. The promise of a $250 32 inch HDTV, a $200 netbook, $6 Snuggie, and a $9.99 Zhu Zhu electronic hamster were definitely worth waiting for. One photo showed a young adult camping out in his sleeping bag near the milk aisle at Walmart (NYTimes, 11/28/09). It was a surreal picture. Here were people who were camping out as if they were waiting for rationed goods, and behind them were milk shelf overflowing with gallons of milk. It's a disconcerting picture; here they were, a store stocked full to over-abundance, yet in the minds of people there was scarcity. That's the marvel of marketing, isn't it? How to create the appearance of scarcity when in reality there is over-abundance.

Before thanksgiving, I asked one of the parishioner what his family tradition was for Thanksgiving and Advent. He said, one of the first things his family does is to take out the Advent wreath, decorate it, and put new candles in it. Then they take out from storage the Christmas creche set or the manger set and decorate it. His children are learning that Advent is about waiting, not for the Santa's promise but for God's promise that His Son will be sent. Our Lord reminds us in today's gospel, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap... Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man." The first candle that we lit in our Advent wreath then reminds us of what was said to us when we were baptized. After the holy water is poured over the child, a godparent lights a candle from the Paschal Candle, and the priest says, "Dear child, receive the light of Christ. Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ. He is to walk always as a child of the light. My he keep the flame of faith alive in his heart. When the Lord comes, may he go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom."

Our Blessed Mother also sends us this Advent message by way of the children at Medjugorje.
"Dear children, Also today I am among you to point you to the way that will help you to come to know God's love, the love of God Who permitted you to call Him Father and to perceive Him as Father. I ask of you to sincerely look into your hearts and to see how much you love Him. Is He the last to be loved? Surrounded by material goods, how many times have you betrayed, denied and forgotten Him? My children, do not deceive yourselves with worldly goods. Think of your soul because it is more important than the body, cleanse it. Invoke the Father, He is waiting for you. Come back to Him. I am with you because He, in His mercy, sends me. Thank you." (November 2, 2009 message of Our Lady of Medjugorje)