Homily for the Office of Vigils

Immaculate Conception Chapel

Mount St. Mary's Seminary

December 3, 2017

Luke 24: 1-12

Introduction

Did the deacon make a mistake? It appears very odd that our Gospel for the Office of Vigils – for this liturgical celebration of our preparation for Christmas – is a resurrection Gospel, an Easter Gospel.
Of course, deacons never make mistakes! This Gospel is the one provided by the Church. As we begin our Advent celebration, this resurrection Gospel contains many elements for our consideration in preparing for Christmas.

Keep the end in mind - hope

The first aspect of our preparation for Christmas during the Advent season is to keep the end in mind. It is a word of hope. Whenever we begin a journey, we should keep in mind where we’re going. The reason for Christ’s first coming is the Cross and the empty tomb which was found empty by the women and disciples. We are not preparing simply to celebrate the birth of a famous person but the Lord and Savior of all mankind.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote, “[E]very other person who ever came into this world came into it to live. He came into it to die… The story of every human life begins with birth and ends with death. In the Person of Christ, however, it was His death that was first and His life that was last.” (Life of Christ)

There was only one who came into the world to die and He did so at the first Christmas. We are preparing for the birth of a Savior – THE Savior. We must remember that all-important end. It is the Son of God who comes into the world to save us from sin and death. His birth is the beginning of his earthly journey toward suffering, death, and resurrection.

Is it any wonder that immediately following Christmas we have several days in which we celebrate martyrs? The very day after Christmas we celebrate the Protomartyr Saint Stephen. Two days later we celebrate the Holy Innocents. Advent is helping us prepare for the coming of the Messiah who through his passion, death, and resurrection gives us not a new kind of earthly life but a divine life – a life that comes by way of death. We are preparing for the birth of our Savior whose very death brings forth for us new life, the life which we see revealed to us in the Resurrection.

Tell the story

Another theme for our Advent season that is found in the Gospel this evening is the importance of telling the story. Some have called it the greatest story ever told. It is the most true story in the entirety of human history.

With the tomb empty Luke tells us that certain women try to tell the story “to the Eleven and the others.” To them, “the story seemed like nonsense and they refused to believe them.”

During Advent we must tell the story, the true story, of Christmas. It is not about trees, buying presents, snowmen, Jingle Bells, or even about a fireplace on 4^th floor McSweeny! Christmas is about the truest story ever told. Our secular age needs to hear this story again and again – with boldness.

A few days ago, the Archdiocese of Washington filed a legal action in federal court challenging the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's advertising guidelines. The Archdiocese wanted to put up an advertisement for their “Find the Perfect Gift” initiative. On a blue background there were three shepherds, two sheep, and several stars with the wording “Find the perfect gift.”

Metro wanted nothing to do with this advertisement. Obviously, they hadn't heard the story or, more probably, they don’t believe it. Secularism has gone so far as to reject any public manifestation of the true meaning of Christmas. If Christmas is only about packages and sales, I guess that’s OK to advertise. But if Christmas is about the birth of the Savior, if Christmas is about the greatest True Story Ever Told, then secular society wants nothing to do with it.

We need the boldness of the women who went to the Eleven and others and told them the true story about Christ. It is not nonsense. Even if others refuse to believe us, we should cheerfully and courageously tell about the birth of the Savior.

All good things come in due time

The final element that connects our Gospel with this first Sunday of Advent and our celebration of the Office of Vigils, is Peter’s plight. St. Luke says that Peter went to the tomb, “stooped down but could see nothing but the wrappings.” Peter had to wait to see the Resurrected Lord.

Waiting is difficult in our age. We are fed by the media instantaneously. We have so much at our fingertips. We don't like to wait in line or sit in traffic. We might even be impatient about getting back a paper from class. Although trying to avoid being trite, it is good for us to be reminded that “all good things come in due time.”

Peter had to wait some time before he encountered the Risen Lord. The people of Israel had to wait hundreds of years before the coming of the Messiah.

We use these four weeks of waiting for the celebration of Christmas to live the virtue of hope. This season becomes a practice for our entire lives. Christ has come once, and he will come again, whether that be at the end of time or at our own death. But just as assuredly he came the first time, He will come again. As we wait with patience and hope for the celebration of Christmas, so our lives are a time of waiting. But rest assured, just as Peter encountered the Risen Lord, we will celebrate Christmas in a few short weeks. Likewise, the Lord will come again.

An Easter Gospel tell us much about our Advent season. May we heed the Word of God – a word of hope, of boldness, and of patience – so as to better prepare for the coming of Our Lord and Savior.