Fear not!

December 15, 2019

Third Sunday of Advent
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121519.cfm


I’m going to start today by reflecting on the Theology of A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Seriously, bear with me as I explain.  I was reading a blog about this and it touched upon something I bet not many of us noticed.  I certainly never noticed it after watching it yearly for over 50 years.  When Linus is on stage, explaining what Christmas is all about to Charlie Brown and the others, there is a moment that is very subtle but says a lot.  As Linus says the words: 

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy…

The moment Linus says “fear not” he drops his blanket.  Linus never drops his blanket, remember the exchange when his sister Lucy tells him:

And get rid of that stupid blanket! What's a Christmas shepherd gonna look like holding a stupid blanket like that?

And to that Linus replies:

Well, this is one Christmas shepherd who's going to keep his trusty blanket with him.

The thing that gets Linus to let go of his trusty blanket is when he states that line from Luke talking about the good tidings of old where the savior that they had long awaited had finally come!

In the first reading the prophet Isaiah tells us:

Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense, he comes to save you.

He comes to save you.  Yes, you, not just me, not just that person sitting beside you, not just those of us serving here on the altar.  He comes, also to save that person in your family who is not here with you today.   This salvation is for all!  This Sunday is called Gaudete Sunday.  Gaudete means rejoice.  Yet we seem to live in a world filled with anxiety, darkness, and fear.  Why?  

One of the reasons is we seem to focus more on our earthly security blankets.  These cannot be trusted.  My major security blanket is stability.  I do not like change at all, I am “one Christmas shepherd who's going to keep his trusty stability with him” you could say.

I’ve been at my “starter” job for 30 years.  I’ve been in my first starter home for about 25 years now.  I've had my starter wife for 30 years!  Seriously though, I really probably shouldn't kid about the sanctity of marriage and I have indeed been happily married for all those years.  But anyway, I need that stability, that lack of change.   This fear of change almost kept me from the diaconate.  I knew my life would change, I’d have to take four more years of classes, I’d have to do well in those classes and then, who knows?  This fear brought darkness and anxiety.  I turned to the light of Christ to dispel that darkness!  I turned to prayer.  I turned to more time in adoration.  I turned to scripture.  These things became, for me,  the light that got me through that darkness to illuminate the truth of what God really wants me to do.

I remember when I was younger (but still probably older than I like to admit) I had a terrible fear of darkness.  My mind would conjure up all sorts of terrible nasty things that lived in that darkness.  Back then all it took was a light, any light, to dispel those unseen boogymen back to a place they couldn’t bother me and my fear would disappear.  You see, darkness has one weakness.  Light.  When in a dark room all you need to do is light a candle and the darkness is gone.  The darkness has no power over that candle, the candle, once lit cannot be beaten by darkness for that darkness ceases to exist.  We need to let Christ be that light that dispels darkness for us.  What dark areas of our life do we need to shed light on this final week of Advent?  

We must always remember that we are preparing to once again celebrate the coming of Christ, of God, of the word becoming Jesus the flesh.  It is kind of a big deal and is the best news to come to us while here on earth.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 522 states:

The coming of God's Son to earth is an event of such immensity that God willed to prepare for it over centuries. He makes everything converge on Christ: all the rituals and sacrifices, figures and symbols of the "First Covenant". He announces him through the mouths of the prophets who succeeded one another in Israel. Moreover, he awakens in the hearts of the pagans a dim expectation of this coming.

Prepare ye the way indeed!  Confession is a great way to allow us to prepare for this awakening.  Maybe spend an hour or more in adoration over the next couple of weeks meditating on scripture such as Luke chapter 2.  Put aside the shopping, the last minute hurried preparations and really discover the true meaning of Christmas so we aren’t asking what Charlie Brown had to shout out on that stage:

Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

It’s about the humble beginnings of the birth of the man that came to earth to reverse the fall of Adam and grant us all salvation.  All we need to do is accept that gift and cherish it.  The birth of Christ is indeed the greatest gift we will ever receive at Christmas.

It’s what St. Athanasius meant when he said:

“He became what we are so that He might make us what He is.”