In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

We are very, very glad, as we are preparing to celebrate Christmas, to be welcoming a special guest today: His grace, Benedict, who is, as you all know—almost all of you know—is our newly concentrated Bishop of Hartford and New England. And we are so encouraged to have the Bishop of New England and have this particular man who has pledged himself to the service of God and to serve in this particular venue, New England. So, please continue to pray for him as we know that he is praying and guiding us.

So, we are here in these last days before Christmas. It’s coming soon. The holiday season is in full swing right now. The rush is on.

People are realizing it is very late to be getting Christmas presents—a lot of last-minute purchases are happening—decorating, music, parties, and let’s be honest: There is a lot of stress. There are reminders of grief: people who will aren’t with us, at this particular time. Or perhaps old family arguments that especially arise right now.

Now, in all of this whirl and excitement and stress, it is very good to be reminded of the invitation to the true party, which has not yet begun, that's waiting for the whole “reason for the season,” as the saying goes, on December 25th. That season of celebration has not yet come. We are in the time of preparation right now, in this Advent season, this Nativity Fast.

And what all of this reminds us of is really the story of our lives. It’s not just about getting ready for Christmas. It’s getting ready for heaven, for life with God.

All our days are filled with these excessive demands of the world’s attention, all these things that we need to be devoting to ourselves to—or maybe we don’t!—but it’s hard to ignore the bright lights, the insistent noises; the people who make us angry; our hopes, our dreams, our fantasies. And all of these things that have their own priorities and expectations and requirements.

In all of this, we can miss the quiet humble and meaningful invitation that we receive every day of our lives: to come and prepare to celebrate the coming of the Savior. Both His first coming that we remember with joy—Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord—and the Second Coming, in glory and in judgment, that awesome day that we are all waiting with great expectation.

And like all those people that were invited to be guests at the wedding feast, in that parable that we just heard from the Gospel today, we have received our own invitation. And like them, we may be caught up in our self-centered imaginations and priorities and concerns.

And so we make excuses and say to God, “We know that You are the Lord and we love You. We honor You as God—we just have all these other things in life, that really need our attention. So we know that You ask us to come to church, but there's this really important game on TV. 

Or we know that You want us to pray each day, but you know, there's other things to do with my time and by the time it comes to pray, I'm tired in the morning, I’m in a rush, and during the day, I'm too distracted. When can I really pray?

I know that I am supposed to forgive my brother and my sister. But you know, they did some really bad things to me. And I have a hard time letting go of it. Who would I be without all these things?

Brothers and sisters, I’m emphasizing the things that are really bad and unworthy.

But you know, there’s a plenty of things in our daily life, that are genuinely needed by people, that really we are responsible for: If we don't go to work, that’s a problem. That’s actually a sin not to do the work that you’ve promised to do, if you are employed. Or go to school if you’re a student: do your studies.

We have responsibilities at home, in our neighborhoods, in our communities. These things are good and worthy and necessary.

But whether we’re talking about things that are truly unworthy of us, or things that are important but not the most important, the things upon which all other things depend….

Well, when we get to bottom of it all, we are in danger of losing the thread, of not understanding why we are here on this earth in the first place, to have families and homes and neighborhoods, and friendships and in places of work and all the rest.

We forget our goal in the midst of it all, the One, without whom we would not be.

You know, it's not a matter of, say, He’d be angry with us if we forgot to honor God, or something like that. If He forgets us, we are nothing. We are nothing at all, if He forgot us for an instant.

So there's that.

And then there's the other side of the coin, which is, who are we? Whose are we?

We are made in the image and likeness of God. And we are claimed by him as his children. And he has prepared a place for us in his heavenly mansions.

And the banquet that's prepared for us, is for us to enjoy unto ages of ages.

But we have to get ready. We can't just take it all for granted.

So as we are in these seasons of excitement, and this particular one that we're doing right now, when people are pushing on us, “happy holidays” all the time. Well, it is good to pause and reflect.

Because of course, you know, one immediate question comes to mind: Are we happy? Is it in fact a happy time for us? Do we have to be happy?

And of course, there’s the other question to be asking:

“Holidays”—that’s just an old fashioned way of saying, “holy days,” the words just kind of slide together nice and easy: “holy days,” “holy-days,” “holidays.” 

In these holy days, where is it? Where is the holiness in our days?

Advent is given to us as a gift, to help us set aside all these demands and expectations, to actually quiet ourselves and reflect and consider what this is all about. All these different things that are demanding our attention, what are they? Where are they coming from?

How do they actually apply to who we really are and whose we really are?

Where is the place in our lives that should be the very heart and center and height of it for God himself?Who called us into being and is inviting us to spend all our life with Him, who is our life!

How does all that fit with everything else that needs to happen in our life, perhaps? And what about those things that do not need to happen at all? That we should in fact let go of, leave behind. They are only dragging us down.

And in the midst of all this reflection and reconsideration, to recognize all the ways in which that's not how we are in fact. To recognize all the ways in which our lives don’t actually fit together at all, that they are broken. There are pieces that are missing; there are things that need restoration and removal and healing and renewal by our loving God, who knows us best and knows exactly what it is that we need.

Who knows every way that we are falling short, all those hopes that are unfulfilled, all those things in our life that we desperately need and we have not yet found. Those things that we desperately need that we don't even know, that we have not yet come to understand, because they spring from the Life of all.

And the gift of this season, right now—these last days that remain to us as we are approaching the great day of the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ—the gift for us is for us to accept the reality of the life that we are living, its actuality—not the imaginations, not the things that we put up as a false front to other people, and the stories that we tell ourselves, but its reality with its real needs.

And at the heart of it all, the Life that we need to find, to seek out and pursue.

We heard in the Epistle today from the Apostle Paul said,

“When Christ who is our life appears, then you will also will appear with Him in glory.”

And you see here that he’s speaking not of the first Coming—not the one that we are getting ready for right now—but that Second and Great Coming for the judgment seat of the Lord. Then He will appear in glory.

And we will appear also, and all those things that are just passing imaginations, passing distractions, they will fade away and crumble to dust. But we will be brought to be with Him.

And our lives will be revealed in great clarity. All the things that are hidden will be made clear. All the things in shadow will be illumined. And we will all see the truth and we will be seen as we truly are.

We will meet the Lord in His glory.

And the question is at that point, are we prepared? Are we ready to receive Him?

How have we been living our lives? Are they lives that are leading us closer, ever closer, to the joy of the love of God?

Or are our hearts growing colder? Our lives emptier? Our hearts hardened? Our minds darkened?

What are we choosing? How are we living?

That’s what is coming with our Lord’s Second Coming, for which we are also preparing.

And so, St. Paul gives us concrete things that we need to do, how we need to respond right now, while we have chance. And that’s again the gift we are being reminded that we have the opportunity right now, to respond properly to the invitation.

We have to let die all those things that are not of the Life that is God Himself, things like anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, all filthy language; we need to “put off the old man” and put on that wedding garment of the New Man, who is Jesus Christ. 

To put the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on ourselves as our life, to fill ourselves up with Him.

And then, when we do this—as much as we do this—we will be ready for the real party that is waiting for us.

That great wedding feast, where all those who partake will be filled with joy and gladness, where all sorrow and sighing is wiped away. And we will live and celebrate with Him, our Savior, all of our days—that Unending Day that is promised for us.

Brothers and sisters, Christ the Life of all, He is coming. Let’s get ready to meet Him. Amen.