November 27, 2016
Editor’s Note: Paulist Fr. Mark-David Janus recalls Marley’s Ghost from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” at the start of this homily for the First Sunday of Advent preached November 27, 2016, at our mother church, the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.
“Marley’s Ghost!”
The same face: the very same.
Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots;
the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail,
and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head.
The chain he drew was clasped about his middle.
It was long, and wound about him like a tail;
and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely)
of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds,
and heavy purses wrought in steel.
“You are fettered,” said Scrooge, trembling. “Tell me why?”
“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost.
“I made it link by link, and yard by yard;
I girded it on of my own free will,
and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?”
“Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed,” cried the phantom,
“not to know, that ages of incessant labour
by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity
before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed.
Not to know that any Christian spirit
working kindly in its little sphere,
whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short
for its vast means of usefulness.
Not to know that no space of regret
can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused!
Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!”
“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,”
faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again.
“Mankind was my business.
The common welfare was my business;
charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence,
were, all, my business.
The dealings
of my trade were but a drop of water
in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
It held up its chain at arm’s length,
as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief,
and flung it heavily upon the ground again.
“At this time of the rolling year,” the specter said,
“I suffer most.
Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings
with my eyes turned down,
and never raise them to that blessed Star
which led the Wise Men to a poor abode!
Were there no poor homes
to which its light would have conducted me!”
The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went.
Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost;
some few (they might be guilty governments)
were linked together; none were free.
Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives.
He had been quite familiar with one old ghost,
in a white waistcoat,
with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle,
who cried piteously at being unable to assist
a wretched woman with an infant,
whom it saw below, upon a door-step.
The misery with them all was, clearly,
that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters,
and had lost the power forever.”
Charles Dickens got it right;
the Christmas celebration begins with the specter of judgement;
it begins with Marley and the ghosts who wear the chain
they forged in life, link by link, yard by yard
until they sought to interfere for good in human matters
and lost the power forever.
Today’s Gospel says it this way:
“Two men out in the field, one taken, one left …
Two women grinding in the mill, one taken, one left …
People were eating and drinking until the very day
Noah entered the ark”
And you know what happened then.
“You know neither the day nor the hour
when the Son of Man will come.”
Advent always begins by thinking about the future, our future.
Advent begins by asking us to pay attention
to our one wonderful life and what we are doing with it.
What are we building link by link and yard by yard?
We can become distracted, like Scrooge, by business.
Our business and the world’s business distracts us.
Disappointment distracts us.
Hopelessness distracts us.
Failure distracts us.
Loneliness distracts us.
We can become distracted away from our own life.
Until the day comes when forever we lose the power
to interfere for good in human matters;
and when we lose that, when we lose our power to love,
then we are in hell.
The celebration of Christmas
is not a historical re-enactment of Bethlehem
When we pretend we are shepherds or kings or angels.
The celebration of Christmas means that since
Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary,
Since the Word of God was made flesh,
God is intrinsically linked to human life, all human life.
Which means that as Marley said:
“Humankind is our business.
The common welfare is our business;
charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence,
are all our business.”
Like the wise men we raise our heads to that bright Star
That leads us to the poor abode
Wherein we too will find the Christ child.
The poor abode is anyplace where
Human dignity is denied,
Where human rights are denied,
Where hope, opportunity, love and mercy are denied.
Last month, I went through the holy doors
Of the Cathedral in Cologne, Germany.
And immediately upon passing through the doors
The pilgrim is confronted with a refugee boat
An actual refugee boat which refugees from Syria
Used to cross the Mediterranean,
In the boat is a sign proclaiming:
Christus ist im das Boot: Christ is in the boat.
Since Christ is in the boat, our boat,
the same boat as every human being,
We prepare to celebrate Christmas by paying attention
To what and to whom we actually pay attention,
Seeking out those we ignore.
Let’s not waste whatever time is left to us.
Let’s not lose our power to love forever.
Cardinal Kasper, says it this way:
“Every day counts. Every moment can be God’s time.
Advent takes place in the midst of everyday life in this world
For God wants to enter into us
through a life of prayer and works of love.
So every day let us carry the share of the load
that is expected of us with courage
and we can become ready every day anew
for God and his kingdom,
that is for righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Paulist Fr. Mark-David Janus is president of Paulist Press.