The Lost Election

I am suspecting that the reason why I have lost every recent papal election may well have to do with the days that are upon us now.

And just in case you have not noticed, as of yet I have not won a papal election. While I might still claim to being "too young," that excuse is loosing its grip.

Time to face the real reason.

I suspect that there are some cardinals out there who know!

They have discovered what one of my first official acts just might be.

And they are afraid of the repercussions and as a result, I have continued to get overlooked in the balloting for pope!

So, I just might as well go public with what I would have done had I actually gotten elected. (Oh, and BTW, someday some future office holder just may do what I am suggesting.)

It has to do with our calendar.

It needs a change! A major one!

Soon now in churches all across the globe, Catholic and other Christian denominations, the People of God will once again have to put up with presiders cheerfully announcing, "Happy New Year!"

And then, as happens year in and year out, they will explain that the calendar does still have another month to the present year. However, we are talking Church Year and the new Church year begins on the First Sunday of Advent.

And so, "Happy New Year!"

As Pope I would declare that our Church Year will no longer begin on the First Sunday of Advent. Instead, let's pick a far more suitable and meaningful time.

How about Ash Wednesday?

Would it not make more sense spiritually to begin a New Year with a season of repentance and renewal, a dedicated time for strengthening our efforts to do better and be better?

But . . . but . . .  but! I can hear it now.

But  The Story begins with Advent!

We cannot do what you suggest. It would destroy The Story!

And, true! The Story does begin with Advent. If we are about the telling and retelling of The Story, well then, Advent takes us back in our memory to those days and years and even centuries of waiting. And then Christmas comes and the waiting is fulfilled and the Promise is kept and then the rest of  The Story unfolds - Magi and Baptism and teachings and healings and Jerusalem and Calvary and so on and so on.

Yes, the year should begin with Advent if we are all and only about a telling and retelling of The Story.

If the whole purpose of our seasons and our feasts is merely a sort of nostalgic remembering of events from some distant yesterday, then the starting point, logically, would be Advent.

But I say and I emphasize that little word - IF.

It is, most certainly, important that we remember our past. However, when it comes to religious remembering, to the remembering that we seek to embodying our feasts and seasons, that remembering must serve a purpose far greater than the telling and retelling of stories from our past. Our remembering is and should be for the sake of forming our present and guiding us into our future.

The Hebrews of old remembered each Passover the events of their past, the memories of the Exodus Events not just for the sake of telling historic tales but for the sake of opening themselves here and now to the working of God right now in their present moments and also to dispose themselves to a longing for the day when God's Will would reach fulfillment. "Next year, in Jerusalem."

Advent, while it can serve to properly dispose us to a coming feast, should be far more important.

It should serve to heighten our awareness of the fact that the Lord who once came to dwell among us, still is present to us here and now. Advent should  awaken anew our sense of care of all who enable and invite us to love and serve Him in very real, concrete, here and now ways - in our service to the poor, the hungry, the imprisoned, the stranger, the sick, the refugee, the marginalized and so on. "Whatsoever you do for the least of my brethren, that you do unto me!"

Add to that Advent should stir up within us the awareness that we are moving day by day, hour by hour toward that day when we will see Him face to face. He will come again and we will see His face and hear His voice!

It certainly seems to me that having Advent at the closing of our Church Year would serve to focus ur attention more sharply on a Day yet to come and on the day that is right here under our eyes.

However, it can certainly be easier and more comfy to focus on a Once-upon-a-time story from some long ago yesterday, especially one that involves a little Baby. Living in the past can be way more comforting than facing the present and embracing that uncatchable tomorrow.

But we should not be about comfort. We, followers of the Gospel, should be about being challenged to live the Gospel right now.

And that can be painful.

Singing "Silent Night" is way easier than living "Wake, Awake, the Night is Dying!"

But think about it.

Advent focuses us on how things will end. Christmas focuses us on what is right here before us, the opportunities here and now.

And then we start anew with ashes marking our foreheads and calling us to get busy doing better.

Nice!

But ain't gonna happen.

I can't get elected!

And I am getting too old!

“Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable,”  - Pope Francis