I live in an area where many tourists pass by every day.  In my neighborhood, there are also many restaurants that make a good business of feeding these hungry people.  At lunch and dinner, the owners and servers stand outside inviting all those passing by to come in and buy some of their tasty dishes—with the exception of one man.  Rather than telling people how good his food is, he stands outside with a tray of fresh hot samples, so that all those passing by can actually taste what he has to offer.  It is no surprise then, that he has so many customers, because once they’ve tasted the food, they almost always enter in and purchase something.  And later, when they return home, they share their experience about the generous and friendly owner and his delicious food with their family and friends.

Metaphorically, this is similar to the experience of John the Baptist’s disciples in the Gospel today.  In the story, these disciples come to Jesus on John’s behalf and ask if he is the one to come.  Rather than giving them a straightforward answer of “yes” or “no” and leaving them with a mere intellectual answer, Jesus invites them to have a personal experience.  He tells them to go and tell John what they themselves hear and see.  He wants them to not simply transmit an answer or reply, but to bear witness themselves, to be able to say, “ I believe that Jesus is the one who is to come because I have experienced him for myself.”  He wants them to be able to share a memory experience because he wants them to know that God is not an abstraction, thought, or idea, but He who is alive and active in human lives.  This is the point of the Incarnation of the Word that we will celebrate in the Christmas season: not merely that the Son came to redeem us, but that he came so that we might know God personally and experience him really, for "he became flesh and truly lived among us." 

This recognized experience of the active living God, this experiencing and remembering is what we do each time we come to Mass.  Each time, we encounter Christ in our personal interaction with the priest and with one another.  We tell the stories of the God experience through our Liturgy of the Word, reading out the lived experience of God at work in our human history. We remember his saving actions and his abiding presence through the Eucharistic prayer.  We recall his great gifts as we carry out and receive the sacrament he instituted.    

And in this season of Advent, we are invited to continue this experiencing and remembering, because our God is alive and active and ready to be encountered.  Indeed, our Christian faith is not simply an accumulation of theological ideas or merely the words on the pages of our bibles.  It is also a personal encounter and relationship with Christ.  How has Christ touched you personally?  In what ways have you “heard and seen” him in your own life?

Fr. Emiel Abalahin, O.Carm.