I COMPLAIN A LOT about Saint Matthew’s Cathedral, my usual church. But Advent seems to have brought out the best in the 5:30 homilist (yes, I am that lazy), who I think is Msgr. Jameson–? The past two Sundays have brought us really good homilies.

The first Sunday of Advent we were reminded that Advent shouldn’t just be a kind of seasonal costume parade, where we all pretend like Jesus is coming for the first time, make-believe. Advent should be an opportunity to relive the coming of Christ by opening our own hearts–our own lives–more deeply to Him. It should be a reminder that we have to relive Advent for real, not for show, all year; both reminder and practice, really. I liked this because it’s way too easy to read the Catholic emphasis on liturgical seasons as a kind of costumery, rather than as a reflection of seasons of the heart and a way to practice responding to those seasons.

The second homily was on exile. I wish I remembered it better, since this is something of an obsession of mine–all Christians are exiles. Hence the insistent tone of the “Hail Holy Queen“; hence, too, the Christian identification (when we’re doing what we should…) with the outcast. The homilist reminded us to live as exiles, and also to care for those, such as refugees, whose exile is temporal rather than existential in nature.