A Letter to
CUSANs
Rev. Jerry Bracken, C.P. CUSA National Chaplain
Dear CUSANs, Several years ago, I came to know the meaning of the word “Advent.” I was saying the “Our Father” in Latin: “Pater noster, qui es in coelis; sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum….” That’s it. Advent is from adveniat; it is about the coming of God’s kingdom. There are three. The Son of God becoming man. Christ coming in glory to be our judge. Jesus coming to us now. The Gospel of Luke for the first Sunday of Advent, in its unique way, told us what to do now to prepare for Christ’s coming. I say in its unique way, for Jesus is speaking “apocalyptically.” There will be “signs in the sun, the moon and the stars.” Nations will be “in dismay and perplexed by the roaring of the sea.” People dying of “fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,” for the “powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Then, amid such terrible things happening, Jesus says that people will see “the coming of the Son of Man.” Thereupon, Jesus makes these challenges. First: “When these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” Second: “Do not be a people who in their “drunkenness” ignore such warnings, and do not be filled with “the anxieties of daily life” so that you have no desire to “pray” to “have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.” What is so helpful about this Gospel is that it fits our own “apocalyptic” time.
12
The CUSAN
