WELCOME TO ST. ELIZABETH CATHOLIC CHURCH

HAPPY NEW YEAR IN DECEMBER: THE UNIQUENESS OF CATHOLICISM

 

Happy New Year. I know it sounds strange to say “Happy New Year” in December. On a
circular calendar, a year starts in January. However, the year of the Church, also known as the
Liturgical Year, begins on the first Sunday of Advent. Each of the three liturgical years (A, B,
and C) is theocentric. That is to say, it tells the story of our salvation history and the prominent
role that Jesus, our Messiah played. The story of Jesus is chronologically told in each of these
liturgical years, beginning with events leading to His birth and His public ministry. For the
current liturgical year, we are in Year A for Sundays and in Year II for weekdays.

 

As earlier noted, each liturgical year begins with Advent. The word Advent comes from the
Latin word “adventus,” which translates as “arrival” or “coming.” Consequently, the season of
Advent allows us to reflect on the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas. It is worth
noting, however, that there is a theological nuance to the Catholic understanding of the coming
of Christ. Catholic theology teaches that the three comings of Jesus are somewhat inseparable
from one another. The three are the First Coming, the Second Coming (also known as the final
coming), and the Third Coming. The third coming is between the first and second comings of
Christ. In the first coming, we reflect on the history of salvation. Our minds are drawn back to
the historical Jesus who entered the world through incarnation and redeemed humanity many
years ago. In the second coming, we reflect on our journey of faith and the expectation of Christ
who is to come again at the end of time. We acknowledge that at Christ’s second coming, He
will not come as a savior or redeemer, but as a judge. That informs our decision-making
regarding how we live our lives in preparation for Christ’s second coming. The third coming of
Jesus is the daily coming of Jesus to us. It occurs through the Scriptures, through the Sacraments,
through God’s ministers, in daily events of our lives, through our neighbors, through our
coworkers, and through our individual deaths. All three comings of Jesus are inseparably
connected. The first reminds us of our history of salvation, the second coming necessitates us to
be prepared, and the third offers us the daily opportunity to prepare.

 

The question is, how well are we preparing for the coming of Jesus? Often, we spend plenty of
time preparing for our careers, taking care of our human visitors, and managing homes, cars,
businesses, and everything that matters to us in this life. Yet, we do not have time to prepare for
the coming of Jesus to us. Even as we have entered this holy season of Advent, most of us may
have already begun making plans for our Christmas decorations, dinner choices, Christmas
parties, and the dresses we will wear. But then, are we equally well-prepared for the coming of
Christ? In other words, is there any spiritual preparation from us? We can get busy doing
everything right according to the world, yet heading in the wrong direction according to eternity.
Advent calls us to pause, reevaluate what matters most, and realign ourselves with God’s
missions in our lives.

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Fr. Francis D. Asomkase, SSJ