BEND — The advent season begins the church’s liturgical year. We are already well into the third week of Advent and the work of the season continues. It is not unusual as the days of Christmas draw nearer and nearer to become more and more preoccupied with the various “things” and activities of Christmas. Even if these events and activities are devoted to “Keeping Christ in Christmas” the hard truth is that they too can be distractions which keep Christ from more deeply entering our hearts. Instead of Christ occupying the designated throne, it is now Christmas, as an event and activity, which takes center stage. Certainly Christ is an integral part of Christmas but he can very easily get lost when Christmas instead of Christ becomes the focus.
Decades ago (I remember only being able to say years ago before but now I can legitimately say decades) when I worked with Engaged Encounter we would commonly say, “A wedding is a day; marriage is a lifetime.” We would talk about all of the planning, preparation and attention to detail that went into a wedding and all of this was done because two people were getting married.
However, what occupied center stage in a lot of cases, sadly, was the wedding and not the marriage. Yet, what was essential was the marriage, the lived reality of the marital relationship, while the occupier of the throne was the wedding. What we, as presenting teams, always held in our hearts was the hope that the couples with whom we worked would take planning for their marriage as seriously and conscientiously as they took planning the wedding. It would often seem, at least in terms of external appearances, that the wedding was much more important than the marriage. I fully understand that the attention given to the wedding could well be a manifestation of how reverently one esteemed the great sacrament of marriage, and I have seen that as well, but in my experience that was more often the exception than the norm.
If we go back to last week’s hub within a circle, within a larger circle I am guessing it would be fair to say that Christmas and the preparation for it occupies a significant portion of the smaller circle. This is not at all inappropriate. This is an important season and it rightly demands a legitimate pride of place. Whether it has now encroached upon the throne reserved for “Him who is to come” is the personal question to be considered.
When I was growing up, I did not realize how fortunate I was to have parents who took these holy days so seriously. There was no possibility of planning for Christmas without simultaneously and necessarily considering when we would leave for midnight Mass and when we would go to Mass on Christmas Day. It was not a question of “either/or,” it was both. It was simply not possible or conceivable to plan for Christmas without planning for Mass as well. That was the hub around which all other planning revolved.
In the same way, Sunday Mass was the hub, absolutely and inviolably required, of the week. Certainly, as youngsters, we did not always fully appreciate what this devotedness to Sunday and holy day Mass was all about but we did know and learn that it needed to occupy a central place in our lives.
As I look back, I do see this as the way our family made and kept a commitment to keep Christ in Christmas, Christ on the throne of our family and Christ on the throne of our hearts. I can assure you, and my brothers would assure you as well, that there was nothing excessively pietistic about this. It was simply how it was. For that, I am now very grateful.
In reviewing last week’s circle one can now ask, “What place does Sunday Mass, daily prayer and Christ himself occupy in my life?” If something as central to our faith as attending Sunday Mass every week (and it is still grave matter) is not seriously observed then I suggest that it does not occupy a significant enough place in our hearts.
Locate “Attendance at Sunday Mass” in your life circle.
Where is it? Close to the center? On the periphery? On the outer edge of the inner circle? On the inner edge of outer circle? On the outer edge of the outer circle? Where we envision this practice being located, and we need to be very honest about this, is a sign of its significance for our lives and its significance is, in reality, Christ’s significance.
I would go so far as to say that if Sunday Mass, routinely and regularly attended, is not a part of our weekly schedule then Christ does not have any chance, at any time, of being the king of our hearts. This is as true at Christmas as it is at any other time of the year. There may be stronger feelings of devotion to Christ in this graced season but Christ either occupies the throne of our hearts and orders everything else in the circle of our lives or he is simply another of a dozen other petty tyrants contending for some small piece of the kingdom of our lives. His rise to slightly greater prominence during Christmas may, in fact, be no more significant than bringing out the well decorated tree only to see it disappear again in January.
The fact that most readers of this column would be regular Sunday Mass attendees does not let us off the hook. It is certainly good for Sunday to occupy a significant place in the inner circle but having Christ as the King of our hearts as opposed to one king among a plethora of others is not guaranteed by Sunday worship alone.
It is, however, a very good start. Advent, Christmas, and the entire liturgical year, is an invitation by God for me to invite Christ, who is the king, into my heart there to take up residence in the throne of my heart as my king. Preparing for this is the work of Advent.
Say to daughter Zion, your savior comes! Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you shall be called “Frequented,” a city that is not forsaken. (Isaiah 62:11-12) Make a permanent place for Christ in your hearts.
