by Rev. Herbert Nichols

The Mass, which I have chosen for this Saturday, is that of Mary, Gate of Heaven. This metaphor of gate, entrance, door, or even threshold, has been applied since patristic times to Our Lady to express her function as intercessor for the faithful.

This Mass begins the Holy season of Advent, the coming of the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of grace into our midst through the incarnation and nativity, through the indwelling of Divine grace, through the final coming at the end of time.

Most of us probably don’t think much of the final coming at the end of the world; but perhaps we do think, more especially, recently, about our own personal end of time, in light of the events of Sept. 11, or even the increase in automobile accidents, because people are driving more, faster, and without attention while they are afraid to fly.

We never know when God will call us or one of our loved ones across the threshold of death. The longer we live the more we experience surprises in our circles of family and friends. While we cannot live fearfully in the present, afraid to take risks because of what might happen to us, we do need to live fully in the present, aware that in fact our time is limited.

Awareness of the present moment and the value of the present moment, and using it wisely, is what Jesus is saying when he warns us in the gospel today: Do not let your hearts become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of life or that day may catch you by surprise.

Those who do not carouse or get drunk may nevertheless still succumb to other anxieties of daily life. If you do not drive alert, but rather dream about what you need to purchase, or babble on about it with your passenger, and never use your turn signals; the driver behind you cannot read your mind or guess correctly what you plan to do. You are a road hazard, endangering the life of another person or yourself just as much as the drunk driver.

This is certainly a season of business, of getting up on the ladder and putting up the lights, wondering what your kids are up to, or what to prepare for dinner for the holiday party. Instead of a time of peace and good will, it is all too often fraught with anxiety.

Make it your Advent resolution, for Advent is the real New Year, to look for God’s arrival in each and every day, in the subtle movements of our heart and the persons around us at the check out line or gas pump. This discipline is possible if we are open to the opportunities.

Each day the Holy Spirit invites us to take one step out of ourselves into godliness. Each day that we do that, something will occur in the circumstance of that day, that is an invitation for another step.

As we allow the Holy Spirit within us to free us from the drives of anxiety and self-indulgence, and replacing it with prayer and obedience, we become gradually transformed day by day.