Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

BE ON THE ALERT…

            Advent is a season of expectant waiting and so we are being encouraged to be on the alert. The prophet Jeremiah who made a name for himself as the prophet of doom changed his prophetic style to that of hope. The prophet this time does not threaten Israel with destruction and exile but security and peace. His hopeful message comes beautifully in these words: “…I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure…” The fulfillment of this prophecy came to pass in the Incarnation; when Jesus became man and dwelt with us. At Christmas, the world celebrates the fulfillment of the prophecies made of old and there is a call for celebration.

            Christmas brings a special feeling that in a word I will say is awesome. When I was a child my indicative sign that we are in the season of Advent and Christmas was approaching was for my mum to bring me and brother to the tailor’s shop for measurement for a new Christmas wear. It was always a special feeling. As a child on the First Sunday of Advent, I started nursing the feeling that good things were on their way but that was not the case for many children of my age. I remember clearly some children of my age who came to church with their old Sunday wears but as children we cared less and even made fun of them. As an adult and priest now, I am ashamed of my childhood behaviour.

            I approach the preparation for Christmas in the Advent Season differently now. I associate my preparation with the words of St Paul in the Second Reading. The inspired writer counsels: “Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones…” As an adult, Advent to me is more than getting new Christmas wear but a preparation for internal purification so that the Lord’s coming will find me worthy for such a sacred feast. It is not the new fabric at the tailor’s shop for new Christmas wear that matters but a new internal disposition. This purification of our inner selves is very important because that is what will merit us among the elect when Christ comes the Second Time; and this is underlined clearly in today’s Gospel account.

            As we prayerfully prepare and await the Lord’s coming let us pay attention to the sacred words of the inspired writer in today’s Gospel account: “We must stay awake, watch ourselves, lest our hearts be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the care of life, and that day will be sprung on (us) suddenly like a trap.” This warning is timely in today’s world especially in the life of some of our youth.

            To our young people of today and some elderly ones, I will like to borrow the words of St. Macarius for you: “Just as a house which has no master dwelling in it is dark, neglected and despised, and is filled with dirt and filth, so a soul which does not have its Lord feasting in it with his angels is filled with the darkness of sin, the shame of passions and every sort of disgrace. Alas for the street in which no one walks, in which the voice of man is not heard; it is a lurking place for wild beasts. Alas for the soul in which the Lord does not walk and put to flight by his voice the spiritual beasts of wickedness. Alas for the land which has no farmer to till it. Alas for the ship which has been abandoned by its steersman: it is tossed about by the winds and waves of the ocean, and perishes. Alas for the soul which does not have its true steersman Christ in it: it lives in the bitter darkness of the sea and is tossed by the waves of passions. It is buffeted by the wicked spirits as by tempests, and finally comes to destruction.”

            Let us not waste our lives away with the desires of the flesh. All over the world some people are using these four weeks leading up to Christmas to organize various mega shows and on the D-day they will waste their lives away in all kinds of vice. Some people in their efforts to secularize Christmas, now call it the Holiday Season. Please children of God let us stay alert and be warned for surely the Lord will come the Second Time