In May of 2022, before I knew I was coming here, because I only knew a couple of weeks before I came here, one of my brother priests was serving in the military. He was a chaplain for a number of years, and he came back to the Diocese, and he decided he was going to take a trip across the country, which was a wonderful experience. He wanted all of his friends to join him for part of the trip.
The part that I joined him in was California; we went from California up to the State of Washington. One of the parks that we visited was Lassen National Park, which is at the northern part of California. I don’t know if you remember this but the year before in 2021, there was a huge forest fire and it was called the Dixie Fire. The Dixie Fire was the biggest forest fire there ever was in all of California. It ravaged the national park that we walked through and hiked. We went to Lassen; it’s a Volcanic National Park, a beautiful mountain. As we hiked up the mountain and looked over the land, every tree was burned to the ground. It was total devastation; it was almost like a horror scene.
I remember as we were walking up some of the paths, I noticed some little seedlings coming out of the ground. They were little pine trees. And so, I was very curious of how these pine trees would grow when everything was devastated. It turns out that there is a unique situation with these pine trees, that in the root structure whenever there is a fire, there are these seedlings that are heat activated, so when the fire scorches the plant, it triggers these seeds to begin to grow little sprouts. It was just fascinating as I read about and learned about that in the National Park.
I was thinking about the Gospel because Jesus is saying that at the end of time it’s going to be something like that; we’re going to experience some kind of devastation. Now Advent is a time that we remember there’s three Advents. We remember first all, the first Advent was when they longed for thousands of years for Christ to be born into the world. The second Advent is at the end of time, when Jesus comes again into the world, and the third Advent is right now, the present moment, how Jesus wants to come to us now.
The second coming he talks about today, it’s pretty scary because he says, “There will be signs in the moon and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay and people will be perplexed by the roaring of the seas. People will die from fright in anticipation of what is coming into the world.” And then he says, “But when you see these things happening, stand tall and erect because our Savior is coming.”
As we enter into this Advent season, Jesus gives us a couple words of advice. First of all, he says, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy.” So, this Advent is a good time to check in on our spiritual life. Have we become drowsy, or have we become placid or kind of stagnant in our spiritual life? Advent is a time to allow ourselves to wake ourselves up. The next thing he says is, “…from carousing and drunkenness.” Now, Advent, at least in America is kind of like Christmas, right? So, from now until Christmas, there is going to be a ton of parties that you go to and it’s kind of the opposite, there’s a lot of drunkenness and carousing. Jesus is saying beware of that. Maybe this Advent Season, just be aware of that and maybe temper it.
But then he says, “…and the anxieties of daily life.” Do not let the anxieties of daily life get to you. Because Advent is a hopeful season and when we put the end in perspective, the small anxieties of daily life subside. The reality is too, that any one of us could die at any moment. If you were to think of the state of your soul right now, how would that be? So, Advent is also a time for confession, for celebrating the sacrament of confession.
But finally, to go back to that seedling, Jesus is saying, “Be vigilant at all times and pray for the strength…” My dear brothers and sisters, you are like that seedling. We hear in the first reading that, “a root shall sprout from the stump of Jesse…” So, when the trees are cut down, there will be a sprout that comes forth. Now Jesus is that sprout, he’s the one that comes forth, but through his passion, death, resurrection and all of our baptisms, we also become that sprout.
You were made to withstand the fire. Not only were you made to withstand fire, you will be activated by the fire. When suffering comes into your life, when challenge comes into your life, when difficulty comes into your life, when it seems like the fires of life are scorching you, that’s when the seed in the sprout is activated. So just like the forest fires of the National Park, all of those sprouts remained inactive until the fire. When the fire comes upon all of us, you are those seedlings that will be activated. You are the ones that when the flames begin to rage, when suffering really hits us, our spiritual life begins to bloom.
As we enter this Advent Season, let us do so with a hopeful wonder, but also with strength, realizing that we are going to sprout, there’s going to be new life out of any of the fires that touch us. Enter into this Advent Season with your shoulders up, with your strength, with your resolve, and with that realization that the seed will sprout in the intensity of the fires.
