Advent I

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art currently has a special exhibit of Roman Vishniac's photographs. Roman Vishniac, a Russian born Jew, took some 16,000 photographs of Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland, in the mid 1930's. The exhibit, appropriately titled Of Life and Loss, contains 45 of these photographs. Great art has this innate ability to create its world and invite viewers to inhabit this world, philosophers of art call this world-projection. Walking into Roman Vishniac's exhibit is like stepping into a past world, the world of 1930's Jewish Communities. This world is serene and austere, lived under the guidance of wise and respected Rabbi's. It is not a world of pampered wealth and comfort, it is a world of poverty and ghettos and, yet, it is a world of deep and unexplainable joy. As you gaze upon Vishniac's photographs you feel the past tugging at your heart and hear it whisper, "See, in the midst of poverty life can be full of inexpressible hope and unfading joy." Yet, this exhibit is engulfed in a real physical tension. As these photographs are tugging into their past world, you are being propelling into their future, a dark and ominous future. We know that in a matter of years, months or even days these communities would be systematic destroyed by Hitler's Army. The tug of the past and the push into the future has a curious effect on the present; it flavors the air with a deep and satisfying taste of joy, life and family. Vishniac's exhibit, Of life and loss, reminded me that I cannot live in the past nor in the future, I can live only in the present, that brief glimmer of time caught between the pull of the past and the push of the future.

The season of Advent has many dimensions and one of these dimensions is intended to quicken our deep Christian joy in the present. Thomas Aquinas suggests that we see three dimensions of time intersecting in the Advent Season: the past, which Aquinas called in carne, when Christ came in the flesh, the future, which Aquinas called ad judica, when Christ comes as judge, and finally the dimension of time we inhabit, the present, which Aquinas calls in mente, when Christ's presence inhabits our souls in the present. This structure reminds us that we can live only in the present and warns us of two common temptations: the temptation to live either completely in the past or entirely in the future.

If we live completely in the past we will develop spiritual rigor mortis. In my life, I have found my self gripped in the powerful hand of the temptation to live in the past around the holiday season. There are so many delightful memories filled with mirth from my childhood and youth and these memories are so intoxicating I find myself too inebriated by the past to enjoy the present. The past welcomes us with the hugs and kisses of departed grandparents, aunts and uncles. It tempts us with the laughter and song of siblings and cousins. The past offers us a warm fire, hot chocolate and a loving house. There is nothing wrong with these memories, but they are so good, but at times they tempted us too forget the present. The longer we live in the past the more numb we will become to the present. What good is it if I am so caught up in the memory of my Grandmother's hug that I forget to hug my own children? Spiritually speaking, living in the past will slowly stifle spiritual maturity. As we begin to inhabit the memories of our spiritual past we will either be strangled by the guilt of our past mistakes or suffocated by the glories of our spiritual triumphs. The guilt or pride of our past will slowly begin to chill and stiffen our heart in the present and will eventually lead to spiritual rigor mortis, a condition characterized by an inability to strive after Jesus. Living in the past is like living behind the lens of camera so intent capturing the present that you forget to live in the present. To those who have fallen asleep in their memories, St. Paul said, "Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand." To avoid falling asleep in our past we need to live in the present with one eye toward the future when Christ will come again.

However, just as it is tempting to live completely in the past it is tempting to live entirely in the future. If we forget about the present and live only in the future, facing the approaching return of Jesus as Judge, we will commit spiritual death. Living under the threat of future judgment and condemnation will produce guilt so grievous and burdensome that we will succumb to spiritual atrophy and die. Living in the future is like being suffocated in a pillow of piety. It sounds so pious to over speculate every decision we make, every thought we think and every word we speak. However, over-speculation is far from pious; it is irreverent because only produces a blistering guilt that destroys our spirituality in the present. The blistering heat of guilt and shame can only be put out by keeping on eye on the past, specially the incarnation, when the Son of God came in carne clothing himself with human flesh. Because Jesus, the Son of God, clothed himself with human flesh he could die upon the cross and be raised from the dead. Because of the incarnation, God has promised that all those who have been baptized into Jesus and have put their faith in him, will be clothed with his righteousness, as St. Paul said, "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ". The only way to live in the present in light of the impending judgment of Jesus is if we have first put on Christ as our garment. To wake from the nightmare of future guilt and shame we need to live in the present with one eye on the past when God to Son clothed himself in flesh so that we through faith and baptism might cloth ourselves in him.

The Season of Advent reminds us that the only way to awake from the intoxicatingly pleasant dreams of the past and the nightmare of future judgment is to live in the present with one eye on the past and one eye on the future. Our Christian life is not to be a life of drunkenness or fear; it is to be a life of joy, true joy. This joy is accessible only to those who live in the present. The present is a perilous dimension of time and full of temptation, but we have not been left on our own. The same Jesus, who was born to Mary in the past and who will come again as judge in the future has promised to be with us always in our souls. Now is the time to awake from our slumbers and see the presence of Jesus Christ clothing us in his peace, clothing us in his righteousness and clothing us in his joy, that deep satisfying joy.