The holiday season is a two sided coin.  On the one hand we have lots of opportunities to gather with those we love and celebrate the mysteries of the season.  We do this with food and fun and beautiful liturgies as well.  Yet the flip side of the coin is that this time of year makes us more aware than ever of our separations from those we love.  Today we hear how the Lord responds to the Israelites who are separated from those they love.  Advent is all about how God comes to his people so that we can come home.  With Christ at the center of our lives, we will be at peace no matter our circumstances.

We can feel exiled from those we love.  Life often forces us into separation.
That surely was the feeling of the Israelite exile community in the 6th century B.C.  Baruch, the scribe of the prophet Jeremiah, lived in the most difficult of times when his nation, his friends and family and neighbors were ripped out of their own city and marched 1000 miles to a strange land.  They were forced to find meaning in their exile, their banishment from all that was familiar.

This time of year we acutely feel our losses such as the passing of a spouse, or parent, or child.  There is an ache for their presence among us.  We’re also very aware of the distance between ourselves and members of our family—maybe that is a physical distance due to the fact they live in another city, or perhaps the distance is more psychological.  Even our own patterns of sin can prevent us from experiencing the love that God has for us.  We can feel exiled from those we love.  Life often forces us into separation.

In Advent God announces “I will bring you home.” 
Jesus can heal for us this feeling of separation. 
In the first reading Jerusalem is presented as a solicitous mother who wants all her children to come back from exile.  Take off your robe of mourning and misery.  God has commanded and God will show all the earth your splendor. During Advent God invites us: No matter how far away life circumstances have scattered us, come back.  No matter how tepid our prayer life, God wants to ignite it once again.  No matter how flat our affect may feel in these late autumn grey days, God wants to be God-With-Us for our everyday living.

You may not know it but I’m part of a singing group with some parishioners.  To keep them safe from the paparazzi I won’t reveal their names.  I like to call us Fr. Mark and the Altones.  Once a month we go to Indian Meadows care center to sing for patients who are not able to communicate in the normal way.  One of our best songs is the sturdy Baptist hymn:
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling
Calling for you and for me
See on the portals he’s waiting and watching
Watching for you and for me
Come home, come home all you who are weary come home!

Jesus is calling us.  Jesus stands in the “in between place.”  The work of the Savior is to fill the gap between what we are and what we hope to be.  Jesus links us to those who are far away through the grace of his Mystical Body.  Jesus bridges the past and the future for us so that we can always have hope for a better tomorrow.  Jesus can heal for us this feeling of being separate.

Why?  So then we can live as St. Paul says:  that your love may increase ever more and more….so that you may discern what is of value.  God who began a good work in us will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. Christ within us is guiding our actions so that we can actually do what we say that we want to do.  The Incarnation unfolding each day as Christ helps us match behavior to our wishes.  And it feels really good when we do this.

The best example I can think of is that of a tuxedo.  When we wear a tux we are fitted for it so that it fits us perfectly.  And I don’t care who you are or what kind of guy you are, in a tux, we look good, and we feel good.  Am I right?  It is because it is designed for us and fit to our specific needs.  So we can be comfortable in it.  (Well the shoes are a different story….)

In Advent we remember that Christ comes to us to help us feel at home in our current situations.  Christ wants to show us how life in his Spirit will adapt us perfectly to the realities of our lives.  The Holy Spirit will give us just what we need to cope.  We’ll be amazed when we realize we have sufficient patience in the middle of a long line at the grocery story.  We will feel comfortable in our own skin as we lovingly accept the realities of our family situation this Advent and Christmas.  Christ will strengthen us as we make our way through a time of depression.  We’ll do what we can and let go of what we must.  Christ within us is guiding our actions so that we can actually do what we say that we want to do.

The Savior is ready to stand in the gap for us.
Jesus wants us to be at home in all our life situations.
Let us each invite the Savior to come into our hearts. 
Come Lord Jesus!
With Christ within, holding it all together, all shall be well, all shall be well, every manner of thing shall be well.