Father Bill's Pondering 12/3
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December 7, 2023I don’t usually start listening to Christmas music until much later in December, but this year, I stumbled across a radio station playing only Christmas music and I have not moved the dial since. This station plays all the classics, sung by the giants of old: Perry Como, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, Burl Ives and even Ethel Merman. These crooners really have me in the Christmas spirit already. The only problem is that it’s only the first week of Advent. But I am glad I was listening because it is Christmas songs and a passage of Scripture that inspired this week’s pondering.
Santa Claus is coming to town, and he is making a list. But not only is Santa making a list; the kids in many of the songs of the season are making lists of what they want Santa to bring. Of course, we all know that if we want the things on our list we need to be on Santa’s good list. No one wants to be on the naughty list because that means stockings full of lumps of coal. All this simply to say that lists are a big part of this time of year.
It’s not only Santa and the kids. In this busy holiday season, we make lists to ensure we send greetings to all our friends. We make lists of people we will invite to spend the holidays with us. We make lists of Christmas favorites that will entice us all to forget about dieting until the first of the new year. List making is just something we do, whether we write them down or simply keep them in our head, to make sure that all goes well. Making lists early on means that there is likely to be less drama, less stress when the doorbell starts ringing and the festivities start.
Today, Monday of the thirty-third week of ordinary time, the Gospel passage we read at Mass was about the blind beggar who sits by the road to Jericho. This passage from the Gospel of Luke, tells the story of how this bold beggar encounters Jesus and has his sight restored. Despite being told to pipe down, despite being told to leave Jesus be, this bold man cries out for Jesus. He asks Jesus to have mercy on him. Despite having never seen Jesus, having never seen one of his miracles, having never witnessed him preaching from the mountain or the plain, this blind man knows who Jesus is. What happens next is truly amazing…
Jesus summons the man and when he is brought to him, Jesus says to him, “What do you want me to do for you? The Son of God, God in the flesh, the Savior of the world asks the man for his list of what he needs from Jesus . This is amazing and even more amazing is that the blind man, this man of faith does not hesitate to ask to be able to see, and his sight is restored. With that, the man is no longer a beggar, he no longer is banished to the side of the road, he is restored to his community.
So, what does this have to do with Advent and Santa Claus coming to town? First, we must remember that Advent is indeed a season of preparation. It is the season in which we concentrate on the return of Jesus as we prepare to celebrate his first coming into the world. As we recall that first Christmas and as we await the return of Jesus, this season of Advent is a reminder that we are to stay awake, to watch, and to prepare.
This is where the Christmas songs and the bold blind man from the gospel teach us a big lesson about Advent. When Jesus came to us on the first Christmas he came for a particular purpose. That purpose was to ask us what he could do for us and to show us what he was willing to do for us. Advent, with its call to slow down, to watch and be alert, is our season to make a list so that when Jesus asks us, “What do you want me to do for you?” We will need not be afraid to boldly say to him…Jesus I want to see!
