Advent Sundays

“UNTO THEE, O Lord, lift I up my soul: O my God, in thee have I trusted, let me not be confounded; neither let mine enemies triumph over me; for all they that look for thee shall not be ashamed.” So runs the ancient entry-chant for the first Sunday in Advent.



Nowadays, we are fortunate indeed if we hear the soaring plainchant melody in our churches, but it is good to remember that, if we do, we are hearing just the same chant and words as were familiar to Saint Anthony.



One of the four ‘wheels’ on which the chariot of Anthony’s Gospel commentaries run is the Introit of the Sunday Mass, and the Saint devotes several pages to that for Advent Sundays (Sermons for Sundays and Festivals, III, 197-288).



For the first Sunday in Advent, the Introit is: “Happy is he who can sing in the hour of his death what is sung in the Introit of today’s Mass: To thee I have lifted up my soul. This is what Isaiah means by: Arise, arise, stand up O Jerusalem.” (219-221)





A reed rooted in mud





Every soul, created in God’s image, is as it were ‘Jerusalem’, the City of God, the place where God dwells. Isaiah’s stirring words, encouraging the Exiles in Babylon with the assurance that Jerusalem would rise again from its ruined state, are applied to the need for the human soul to rise from its state of sin, and seek the things that are above. “O soul, arise from the allurements of your flesh; arise from the concupiscence of the world; stand up for eternal joys. He who thus lifts up his soul to God will be safe at the point of death.”



The Psalm continues: In thee, O my God, I put my trust. Of old, Anthony explains, the Israelites put their trust in political alliances and military strength. Assyria and Egypt were unreliable allies, seeking only to take advantage of their weakness to dominate them. Setting aside any political lessons for today, as individuals we are tempted to rely on our material resources and physical strength to ensure a happy life; but: “Worldly wealth and bodily health are like a reed rooted in the mud, beautiful on the outside but hollow within. If a man leans upon this reed, at death it breaks; and, being broken, wounds the soul.”



No, we should entrust ourselves to the God who never abandons us. “Let me not be ashamed. Truly, truly, whoever puts his trust in the Lord while he lives, will not be ashamed in the hour of death.” By contrast, how embarrassed and ashamed will be those who relied on making money, even if they took regular exercise at the local gym! Anthony had no scruples about frightening the well-to-do in his audiences with the thought of their possible fate in the world to come. “So Isaiah says: Their worm shall not die and their fire shall not be quenched.”



“There follows: Neither let my enemies laugh at me.” In this world, Christians are often mocked and despised by those who have no faith. We should not be disturbed by this, because our hope lies beyond the world we can see. In this Advent season we are looking forward to the Lord’s Coming, which is equally past, present and future. His coming at Bethlehem marked God’s decisive intervention in history. Liturgically, we celebrate this in every Mass, and throughout the Church’s year; but we still wait in hope for this intervention to be made manifest, for God’s plan to reach its fulfilment.





The poor in spirit





On the second Sunday in Advent, the Introit is “People of Sion, behold the Lord is nigh at hand to redeem the nations: and in the gladness of your heart the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard.” Christ blessed the poor in spirit, and, says Anthony, “It is of this people that the Introit of today’s Mass sings.” Christ came as “a herald of good news to preach the Gospel to the poor, so that the nations may be saved by the Gospel, and the Lord shall make the glory of his praise to be heard in the joy of your hearts.” (Sermons, III, 243)



“The people of Sion are the poor in spirit, who are raised up from earthly things and made a watchtower upon the height of poverty, and contemplate the Son of God, a pilgrim in the way and glorious in his homeland. The Lord comforts this Sion; the Lord comforts those bereft of temporal goods with his own good things.” Again Anthony contrasts worldly and spiritual values: “The Lord calls the riches of this world thorns. Isaiah calls the desert of poverty a place of pleasure. O thorns of the world! O delights of the desert! The difference between you is as great as truth and error, light and darkness, glory and punishment. The former delights, the latter pains. In one is rest, in the other vanity and affliction of spirit.” (Sermons, III, 244)





Two-fold blessing





On the third Sunday, the Introit is “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice! Let your moderation be known unto all men; the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, nor troubled; but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” These words, taken from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, were in Anthony’s day also the Epistle of the Mass, and he devotes the whole of his commentary to it (Sermons, III, 253-265).



“Note that he says ‘rejoice’ twice, because of the two-fold blessing of the first and second Advents. We should rejoice, because in his first coming he bestowed riches and glory on us. We should rejoice again, because in his second coming he will give us length of days. So it says in Proverbs: Length of days is in his right hand, and in his left hand riches and glory. In his left hand (his first coming) were the glorious riches of poverty and humility, patience and obedience. In his right hand (the second coming) is eternal life.” (Sermons, III, 258)



Although we speak of the Lord’s ‘coming’, that does not imply that He is at the moment absent. He is with us always, until the end of the world. That is why we need not be anxious our care-worn; we should simply lay our concerns before our heavenly Father, and thank Him for all that He has already done for us.





Different Introit





The Introit for the final Sunday in Advent is nowadays different from that in the time of the Saint. We now sing another beautiful Advent chant, “Drop down your dew, ye heavens, from above.” The passage in Isaiah from which this is taken continues, “and let the earth bud forth a Saviour.” Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of God, born of His Father before all ages. He is also the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mother, our Lady. In Him, heaven and earth meet. With Anthony, let us prepare during Advent for the birth of our Saviour.