The Right Challenge for the Advent Time.

Exactly a week ago, on November 24, someone told me, “Oh, one more month, and it will be Christmas. We will celebrate, we will celebrate, we will not go to work, and you will not go to school. It will finally be fine.” I didn’t even realize it that day. 

But after a while, it shook me. Wait, is this what Christmas is all about? Not going to work? Don’t go to school? Is this what Christmas is all about? And it’s already here. The first Sunday of Advent is a reality. The second, third, and fourth will come, and before we know it, the tree, food, presents, midnight mass, and… New Year. 

And work, school, and responsibilities. But where is the real Christmas in all this? Where is the celebration of the birth of the Lord in all this, apart from the rush of “writing a letter to Jesus” or the obligatory visit to the family? Where? And, after all, Advent is preparation for it. To celebrate! On the birth of the Lord! Not just by stating that Christmas is just around the corner.

Today’s gospel pulls us out of the Advent rush —not pre-Christmas, but Advent—and all the “important” responsibilities: “There will be signs in the sun and the moon, and in the stars, and on earth, the nations will be full of anxiety and confusion from the roar of the sea and the waves. People will be reconciled from the fear and expectation of what is coming into the world because the heavenly powers will tremble. 

These words of Jesus are miles away from the Christmas comfort many are preparing for today. We want comfort, not a forecast of disaster. We want pleasant moments, not anxiety—even if we somehow associate confusion with the holidays—confusion in shops, at work, and also at home. Likewise, we get scared if we don’t have time to buy the right gift. Well, it’s still only Advent. No Christmas!

We can imagine that beautiful and romantic moment, but we don’t even have to imagine it because we experience it if we want to watch the night sky. And with bated breath, they looked at the stars. Indeed, it is somehow more natural in the summer than in the winter, but even now, it is possible. 

Even though it is more difficult, we can still sometimes look at the sun and enjoy its warm rays—even in winter. In fact, they will please many even more than in the summer. But we can also imagine something else—that the sun will be veiled, covered, suddenly and out of the blue. We can also imagine a beautiful night show in the sky at a time when we can observe “falling stars,” i.e., a meteor shower.

All the above-mentioned “events” will please each of us. But can we also imagine that we would exchange its brightness for an anti-aircraft cover at the time of beautiful noon when the sun is wintry and jagged but pleasing? Instead of the “meteor shower theater,” would we watch flying and falling rockets? None of us wants even to imagine this, let alone admit it. Every romance ends with this idea.

This is the right challenge for the Advent season – so our hearts are not heavy. And if by chance they have become heavy, to get rid of this “overweight” that prevents the heart from flying and seeing “from God’s perspective”. 

What, then, should our hearts not be heavy? But still, that “selfish” fear for ourselves, in which we close the door and the heart of our life against the pain and misery of others. Are you saying that you don’t see the poor around you? I guess not only your heart, but also your eyes have become heavy, and you are blind. Blindness does not only have to be physical but also mental-selective. Still can’t see?

Gluttony is, figuratively speaking, also a desire to have – but only for oneself. And those who are proud of the slogan: “We don’t want other people’s, we don’t take our own” suffer from “gluttony.” Because, in reality, it is difficult to share a piece of bread or the next room. It is impossible to accept, to accept. And just to be sure, I will talk my neighbor and friend out of it, so I don’t feel embarrassed that someone has a more excellent heart than me.

Drunkenness is, figuratively speaking, the belief in a lie or falsehood that everyone is the mastermind of their happiness. If it were so, Christ would not have come into this world. However, he came because without him, we would not know what it means to love truly and selflessly – so that we too love like this.

And worries? Well, that is, figuratively, each of our introspection. When we are looking forward, I only look in the mirror—and see only myself. And I still tell myself, like in the fairy tale about Snow White, that I am the most beautiful person on earth.

“Take heed that your hearts are not heavy…” says Jesus on the First Sunday of Advent. So, let Advent be a time of changing mindsets and attitudes toward those who suffer in a way that we would never want to suffer. 

It is time to change the paradigm of love, which does not count how much it gives and how much it receives but constantly shares and does not worry about the future. Let the following days and weeks be a struggle against self-pity and self-centeredness, which we will overcome if God’s word enters our hearts and frees us to fulfill with love and without fear the words of today’s first reading from the prophet Jeremiah: “In those days and at that time a righteous shoot will sprout from David, who will do justice and righteousness on earth.”