"The Prophetic Voice Cries: Wake Up! "
Fr. George Wertin
Sunday, November 28th, 2004

Our Advent journey is both an invitation and a challenge. Let me begin with a little story Anthony DeMello, the Jesuit priest and spiritual mentor used to tell. He told about the father who knocked on his son’s bedroom door and said, “James, it’s time to get up.” James replied that he didn’t want to go to school. The father said, “Why not?” “Three reasons” replied James, “First, because it is so dull. Second, the kids tease me. And third, I hate school.” The father responded, “Well, I’m going to give you three reasons why you must go to school. First, because it is your duty. Second, because you are forty-five years old. And third, because you are the principal!” You see it’s very hard to wake up. We don’t want to face reality.

This Advent we pursue our call to be a prophetic voice in the world. To be prophetic isn’t all that exotic. It simply means we look at this world critically, recognizing how broken and unhealthy it has become and explore the kind of world we - and Jesus - want it to be. We are called to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, as we hear it put so poetically in the Sermon on the Mount. First, of all we have to ask ourselves whether the way we are living in the world is making us any happier and the world a better place to live. We have to imagine the way this world could be if the value system could be turned upside down as the Beatitudes proclaim: Blessed our the poor…the meek…the merciful…the peacemakers…those who hunger and thirst after justice.”

I know that this vision is not new to you. I see signs of your passion for justice and peace every day. But it is also true that we get caught up in the dominant imagine that says blessed are the rich, those who take care of themselves, those who will use violence to get what they want, those who ignore the plight of others, those who say my happiness comes first. After all, we are inundated with a call to be self-indulgent, exploiters of others, and consumers.

I remember years ago when a wonderful woman came to see me as her pastor. She had acquired a master’s degree in theology, had written an insightful paper on the meaning of the Eucharist in the context of liberation theology, and spent two years working in the Peace Corps among the exploited indigenous people of Peru. It was the end of November and she was thinking about how we celebrate Christmas with the focus on Santa Claus, shopping and gift giving. She explained to me that she didn’t want her two young children to be exposed any longer to the American cultural Christmas that she felt very inconsistent with the vision and the teaching of Jesus. She wanted me to challenge the entire parish to quit Christmas shopping, focus on the real meaning of Christmas and explore ways to live like real Christians.

I talked with her at length. We explored the reactions that it would rouse in people. I explained to her that maybe this would be a very judgmental way of telling people how to run their lives. I explained the good that comes out of the existing Christmas and even how our economy is reliant on Christmas shopping. Eventually she agreed to help me develop the Alternative Christmas model and encourage people to explore creative and less commercial ways of celebrating Christmas.

Yes, Advent is a time to wake up. It is not a time to condemn, but a time to transform and be creative. We are not going to turn the world around in the four weeks of Advent or even in our lifetimes. But that is not an excuse for not making a difference. And it all starts with keeping the alternative vision - Jesus’ vision - alive. We do not hold a doomsday scenario. Rather we seek to let the light shine in the darkness. We are called to be a people of hope.

Judy Griep is a wonderful person and a dedicated parishioner. She has been dealing with cancer since 1998. She makes it clear that she is not battling cancer, but living with it because it has forced her to wake up. It has given her the opportunity to share her rich spirit with others. She often writes beautiful poems and reflective essays that she shares with me and with others. She is the one who taught me that HOPE can be understand as an acronym that stands for ‘having other possibilities exist.’ Pray for Judy. This Advent she is preparing to die. And she is doing it with acceptance and peace in her heart.

Again, we have to be creative prophets not bound by the way things are today. We have to explore our spiritual horizons and seek balance. It has been said that ‘there is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life - happiness, freedom and peace of mind - are always attained by giving them to someone else.’ That requires that we wake up and shed our illusions. That is an intrinsic rule of the spiritual life.

I offer you four very helpful ways to enrich Advent for yourself, your family and our St. Joan of Arc community:

1. Recognize that Christmas means stress. Explore this stress and tension. Reflect on ways that you can move beyond the stress through simplifying, meditating and being truly present to what you do to celebrate Advent and Christmas this year.
2. Share the Christmas story. It is a myth - in the healthy, Joseph Campbell understanding of the term myth. It is a way of giving meaning to our lives and relationships. It is about discovering the divine in the human. In other words, wake up and discover there is much more to life than simply keeping busy and earning our salvation. Remember, that has already been achieved. It is the world that needs saving!
3. Be welcoming and inclusive to others. Reach out to others in an accepting and nonjudgmental way. Help break down the subtle barriers of exclusion and separation that permeate our society today.
4. Finally, be peacemakers. Find a way to contribute to peace in the world by promoting nonviolence. Be peacemakers in your family by mending and nurturing healthy relationships. Be a peacemaker in your own heart by meditation and achieving balance. These are all ways of being prophetic even though they aren’t particularly exotic.

Happy Advent!