A reunion to which each human heart longs

Bishop Scott Bullock
Second Sunday of Advent
December 8, 2024

On Saturday over Thanksgiving weekend, I was back in Iowa, my previous residence, on the way to gathering with my family, as many were, and I was with some great friends from my years as a priest in Northeastern Iowa. As a critical part of my path to priesthood, I was a graduate student at Iowa State University and though I was a student there for only a short time “before I saw the light,” my loyalties to the Iowa State and the Iowa State Cyclones runs rather deep!  

Surprisingly, a friend who did not even know that I was planning to be in Iowa over that weekend, contacted me with the offer for some tickets to the Iowa State/Kansas State football game on Saturday night of that weekend. My first reaction was that I did not think it would be possible because so many other things had already been put on my schedule. However, things began to fall in place and before long I was joining a group of friends in the chilly air of the evening to cheer on the Cyclones to a victory in a rival game known as “Farmageddon,” a reference to the two agricultural schools who were competing. Incidentally, the Cyclones won!

Included with the tickets was access to a nice suite with warmth and refreshments. While I was waiting to purchase a beverage, a voice cried out from the gathering, “Father Bullock! I mean, Bishop Bullock, what are you doing here?” It turned out that some parishioners from my former parish in Waterloo, Iowa, were also there and had seats near the ones I had been given. It was a surprising and remarkable reunion — not anticipated by any of us. For though we did not know it, through unexpected circumstances, we were all on a path of convergence. My former parishioners heading from Waterloo to Ames, Iowa, where the game was. My heading from Rapid City to Ames, Iowa, and then a joyous reunion!

Well friends, we’ve begun our annual Advent journey on our way to the commemoration of the great reunion of humanity and God in Christ, the child at Bethlehem. Like the experience in Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa, the reunion is a convergence of two paths, isn’t it. God’s definitive movement, in the case of Christ, into the heart of humanity in Jesus, who is God with us, and then our movement in faith towards the God who is always coming toward us. Both movements are needed for the meeting and reunion between God in Christ and each human heart.

This reunion between God and humanity in Christ is anticipated by the words of the Old Testament Book of Baruch, from which we hear on this second Sunday of Advent. Named after the scribe of the prophet Jeremiah, this book considers the situation of a people in exile. The people of Israel, who have been displaced from their homeland and now are living in the land of Babylon as indentured slaves. The people long for a return to their home, to Jerusalem, the place of union with the Lord in His sacred city.  To their longing for restoration with their Lord, Baruch speaks: “Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from east and the west at the word of the Holy One rejoicing that they are remembered by God. Led away on foot by their enemies they left you: but God will bring them back to you.” 

Here, these prophetic words speak of the divine plan to restore our union with our God, our creator and redeemer. It is a restoration in two movements — the people being brought back to Jerusalem and then the God of Jerusalem coming to meet them there. 

The origin of the Latin word Advent literally means “a coming towards.” In this case, Advent is a double movement for us as well. The reunion would be impossible unless God first came towards us — the truth of God with us in Jesus and experienced again and again in the Eucharist we’re about to share. Our path toward God during this season of Advent, our coming towards God is a movement of faith and prayer. It’s a coming toward mercy particularly in those privileged moments of the Sacrament of Penance through our confession and discovering God’s mercy. Above all, it’s our coming to the Lord who is always coming to us in the Eucharist. Our journey during Advent is our going to those privileged places, prayer and the sacraments, where the Lord has promised He can be found, and we can be found by Him.

So the reunion like the one I described in that football stadium is always about two coming together in different ways. And Advent is always about a renewed coming toward God and God coming toward us.  So let us brothers and sisters, return to the Lord again with our whole hearts lifting our heads prayerfully in hope and faith and in so discovering the truth that we celebrate at Christmas: God with us in a great reunion with Jesus. God fully human. God fully divine. A reunion to which each human heart longs.