# Three Dimensions of Advent - Bishop Barron's Daily Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 30 Jul 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73038747/three_dimensions_of_advent_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. We come to the first Sunday
[0:02] Speaker 1: of Advent, New Year's Day, the new liturgical year commences,
[0:06] Speaker 1: and so once again, everybody, we get back to basics.
[0:09] Speaker 1: We start preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ. Adventus
[0:14] Speaker 1: in Latin means just that arrival or coming. I've told
[0:18] Speaker 1: you before, I think. But one way to look at
[0:21] Speaker 1: Advent is to see three comings of Christ. There's the
[0:25] Speaker 1: coming of Christ in history, we go back in time
[0:30] Speaker 1: to his arrival in Bethlehem. There's the coming of Christ
[0:34] Speaker 1: now as he approaches our hearts. And then there's the
[0:38] Speaker 1: coming of Christ someday in the distant future to which
[0:42] Speaker 1: we look so past, present future. All three of those
[0:47] Speaker 1: dimensions belong to our Advent preparation. So first of all,
[0:52] Speaker 1: let's look back. Here's a very important thing. Please always
[0:58] Speaker 1: distinguish Jesus of Nazareth from Hercules or Achilles or Osiris
[1:05] Speaker 1: or Paul Bunyan or any sort of legendary figure. We're
[1:09] Speaker 1: not dealing with a legendary figure. There are poetic elements
[1:14] Speaker 1: involved in the telling of the Christmas story, sure, but
[1:18] Speaker 1: it's not a legend, it's not a myth. We're talking
[1:21] Speaker 1: about someone who really came in time and history more
[1:28] Speaker 1: to it, who was seen by his contemporaries as the fulfillment,
[1:35] Speaker 1: the culmination of an even older and longer story. So
[1:41] Speaker 1: Jesus represents the culmination of Israel, God's rescue operation. God
[1:48] Speaker 1: forms the people after his heart, gives them law, Torah, temple,
[1:52] Speaker 1: covenant prophecy. Who's Jesus, but the one who gathers all
[1:58] Speaker 1: those strand together. He's the fulfillment of temple, Torah, covenant prophecy.
[2:06] Speaker 1: That's why you know he cleanses the temple and declares
[2:08] Speaker 1: himself the place where God is rightly worshiped. That's why
[2:12] Speaker 1: he goes up the mountain to give the new law,
[2:15] Speaker 1: because he's the new Moses. He's the fulfillment of the covenant,
[2:20] Speaker 1: He's Torah prophecy, all of it. So we look back
[2:24] Speaker 1: to Jesus, this baby who came into the world in
[2:28] Speaker 1: Bethlehem of Judea, and then even further back into the
[2:31] Speaker 1: midst of time, into the long history of Israel, and
[2:37] Speaker 1: we draw those strands together in him. It's appropriate, and
[2:42] Speaker 1: that's part of our advent, meditation and preparation to look
[2:46] Speaker 1: back and to wonder at this event, which does represent
[2:52] Speaker 1: listen the climax of human history. That question, to me
[2:57] Speaker 1: is very interesting. Talk to historians and philosophers and they'll
[3:02] Speaker 1: notice various moments that are climactic or that's where history
[3:06] Speaker 1: really turns. They'll talk about the Axial Age, somewhere around
[3:11] Speaker 1: five hundred BC, were in China and India and the
[3:14] Speaker 1: Middle East. This great spiritual and intellectual revolution took place,
[3:18] Speaker 1: the great religions, philosophy itself emerging in Greece at that time.
[3:23] Speaker 1: There was something radioactive about the earth at the Axial Age,
[3:26] Speaker 1: and many would say that that was the turning point
[3:29] Speaker 1: of history, that's the fulcrum of history. Probably more common
[3:35] Speaker 1: among us is to say the eighteenth century, with its
[3:39] Speaker 1: revolutions and science and politics that created the modern world.
[3:44] Speaker 1: Think about it. The scientific revolution that gave rise to
[3:48] Speaker 1: these lights and cameras in front of me right now,
[3:51] Speaker 1: that gave rise to all the technology that we take
[3:53] Speaker 1: for granted, and the political revolutions that gave rise to
[3:57] Speaker 1: the political arrangements that we are so custom to. Many
[4:00] Speaker 1: would say, no, no, that's that's the full crium of history.
[4:04] Speaker 1: That's when it really happened. Then we Christians say, no, no,
[4:10] Speaker 1: not the Axial Age, as important as that was, not
[4:13] Speaker 1: the eighteenth century, as decisive as that was. No, No,
[4:17] Speaker 1: the full crum of history was the coming into the
[4:19] Speaker 1: world of this baby born in Bethlehem of Judea, the
[4:25] Speaker 1: Son of God, having entered history, drawing together all the
[4:28] Speaker 1: strands of Israel. He is the full crum upon which
[4:32] Speaker 1: history turns. He's the focal point of time. And indeed,
[4:36] Speaker 1: isn't it wonderful that even in our very secularist age
[4:40] Speaker 1: we measure time by the coming of this Christ. We're
[4:44] Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty fourth year since his coming. How
[4:49] Speaker 1: appropriate that is, And so in our advent meditation we do,
[4:53] Speaker 1: indeed look back at his coming in time and how
[4:57] Speaker 1: important that was. A second dimension, there's also an adventus
[5:04] Speaker 1: that's happening now, see, because Jesus is not just a
[5:08] Speaker 1: figure lost in the mists of history like Julius. Caesar
[5:12] Speaker 1: will say what an important figure he was, But Caesar,
[5:15] Speaker 1: he's long gone. Napoleon, what an important figure. But you know,
[5:18] Speaker 1: he's long gone, buried in the envlid in Paris. But
[5:23] Speaker 1: his present relevance is mitigated at best. That's not true
[5:27] Speaker 1: of Jesus, that same Christ who came into the world
[5:31] Speaker 1: in Bethlem of Judea crucified and risen from the dead
[5:35] Speaker 1: and now reigning as king. That Jesus listen, now wants
[5:42] Speaker 1: to come into your heart. Now, his lordship is not
[5:48] Speaker 1: some abstraction from the past. It's a present offer. Think
[5:54] Speaker 1: of that great scene from the Book of Revelation that
[5:56] Speaker 1: Jesus knocks at the door. I want you to spend
[6:01] Speaker 1: time with that image during Edmund. Think of Jesus right
[6:04] Speaker 1: now knocking on the door of your heart and he
[6:09] Speaker 1: wants in now. I'll say more about it next week.
[6:12] Speaker 1: But he's not going to come barging in the door
[6:15] Speaker 1: he knocks, which means he's inviting a response. Are you
[6:22] Speaker 1: willing to make Jesus now the lord of your life?
[6:28] Speaker 1: He's come. He is the climactic moment of history, and
[6:33] Speaker 1: he's come to meet you now, and he wants to
[6:40] Speaker 1: come into your house to sit down with you, to
[6:44] Speaker 1: become your friend. Yes, and also the lord of every
[6:49] Speaker 1: aspect of your life. During Advent we become very aware
[6:56] Speaker 1: of that arrival of Christ. Now I know, she mays say,
[7:02] Speaker 1: you know, I'm not ready for that. I mean, my
[7:05] Speaker 1: life's kind of a mess. And to let Jesus into
[7:09] Speaker 1: my life. I mean, I'm not worthy of it, or
[7:11] Speaker 1: I'm not ready for it. It's too much. I want
[7:14] Speaker 1: to think about something. Dorothy Day said this, She said,
[7:17] Speaker 1: I'm so grateful that Jesus arrived in this sort of
[7:21] Speaker 1: filthy stable two thousand some years ago. How come because
[7:27] Speaker 1: she said, that's what my heart is like. My heart's
[7:31] Speaker 1: kind of like a like a filthy stable. It's not beautiful,
[7:35] Speaker 1: not altogether, not well arranged, full of all kinds of
[7:38] Speaker 1: stinky things. I mean, that's that's my heart. Well, Jesus
[7:43] Speaker 1: deigned to come into that stable long ago, and he
[7:49] Speaker 1: wants access to the stable of our hearts now, So
[7:55] Speaker 1: everybody during Edvent meditate on that. Perhaps. Look, i know
[8:00] Speaker 1: I'm unworthy. I know maybe I've wandered away from Christ
[8:05] Speaker 1: and from the Church and from the sacraments, and I'm
[8:07] Speaker 1: just I'm not worthy. Forget about that. Right now during Advent,
[8:14] Speaker 1: He's knocking at the door of your heart. Right now
[8:19] Speaker 1: and now, maybe there are people listening to me who
[8:22] Speaker 1: have wandered a long way from the Lord. They have
[8:25] Speaker 1: wandered far away from the Church. Open the door to him.
[8:33] Speaker 1: You're not ready, None of us is ready. But he's
[8:35] Speaker 1: knocking open the door. He's coming, Adventus, He's arriving. Now,
[8:42] Speaker 1: let him in to be the lord of your life. Okay.
[8:45] Speaker 1: So we look back into history and we see Jesus
[8:49] Speaker 1: as the culmination of time and history. We look around
[8:53] Speaker 1: us and we see him coming now into our lives.
[8:58] Speaker 1: The third one, I want to draw your attention here
[9:00] Speaker 1: to the gospel. For today we look to the distant future,
[9:07] Speaker 1: or maybe not so distant, who knows, But we look
[9:10] Speaker 1: to the future coming of Christ. He talks about these
[9:15] Speaker 1: apocalyptic signs, right, that will happen, that people will die
[9:20] Speaker 1: of fright in anticipation of what's coming upon the world.
[9:24] Speaker 1: But when these signs begin to happen, he says, stand
[9:28] Speaker 1: direct and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.
[9:33] Speaker 1: But then this be vigilant at all times, and pray
[9:38] Speaker 1: that you have the strength to stand before the Son
[9:41] Speaker 1: of Man. You know, it's an aspect of Christian doctrine.
[9:45] Speaker 1: I think we overlook a lot the second coming of Jesus.
[9:50] Speaker 1: So he came in time, right, and now he's offering
[9:53] Speaker 1: himself to us in the present. But the great faith
[9:56] Speaker 1: of the Church is that he will come a again
[10:01] Speaker 1: at the end of time, mind you, For Christian's time
[10:06] Speaker 1: is not just a cycle, not just an endless return
[10:12] Speaker 1: of the same. Nietzsche said that the eternal return of
[10:15] Speaker 1: the same not just one darn thing after another. No,
[10:20] Speaker 1: history is marching toward its fulfillment. It's a story unfolding.
[10:28] Speaker 1: Think of all the great Christian literary artists. They're all
[10:32] Speaker 1: kind of assuming this idea that life is like a story,
[10:38] Speaker 1: not just a popery of unconnected events, but a narrative
[10:43] Speaker 1: that's unfolding. Where's it moving toward. What's the climax of
[10:47] Speaker 1: the story? The second coming of Jesus, when he comes
[10:53] Speaker 1: definitively to draw all the strands together. He comes to
[11:00] Speaker 1: definitively to show that all of space and time are
[11:03] Speaker 1: like the separate leaves of a book. That's Dante's image,
[11:07] Speaker 1: now gathered together as a coherent narrative. I want you
[11:12] Speaker 1: to watch for something, especially during Advent, but actually year round.
[11:16] Speaker 1: How often the liturgy orients us toward this second coming.
[11:22] Speaker 1: So we wait in joyful hope for the coming of
[11:26] Speaker 1: our savior, Jesus Christ. Open up your bibles. Look at
[11:30] Speaker 1: the last lines of the last pages of the Book
[11:34] Speaker 1: of Revelation. What do you see Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.
[11:42] Speaker 1: The last line of the Bible. The Bible, which has
[11:45] Speaker 1: explored the history of Israel, has recounted the coming of
[11:48] Speaker 1: the Messiah all of that, But the last line of
[11:51] Speaker 1: the Bible is looking for the day when the Lord
[11:55] Speaker 1: will come again. Now see why is this important during
[12:00] Speaker 1: event that we also look forward because it convinces us
[12:04] Speaker 1: that our lives have meaning and purpose. They're not just
[12:10] Speaker 1: disconnected events, but they're meant to unfold in a coherent
[12:15] Speaker 1: way in the direction of Jesus. See as he is
[12:20] Speaker 1: going to come to bring history to a conclusion, we
[12:25] Speaker 1: even now look to his coming and order our lives
[12:29] Speaker 1: in that direction. It's not bad news the second coming
[12:35] Speaker 1: of Jesus. Don't read it that way. It's the good
[12:38] Speaker 1: news that God from the beginning has had a purpose
[12:42] Speaker 1: for everything our lives. Uh huh. But the entire sweep
[12:49] Speaker 1: of history is moving in a particular direction, and it
[12:54] Speaker 1: will come to its meaningful fulfillment in Christ. Dante's great
[13:01] Speaker 1: work is called the comedia in his Italian the comedy.
[13:05] Speaker 1: And we think all that means it's full of laughs.
[13:07] Speaker 1: Well it isn't comadia, meaning a story with a happy ending.
[13:13] Speaker 1: The great truth of the second Coming of Jesus is
[13:17] Speaker 1: that the story of humanity, indeed the story of the cosmos,
[13:21] Speaker 1: has a happy ending. It's drawn together in and through Christ. Okay,
[13:28] Speaker 1: so as we begin advent, everybody look back. He came.
[13:33] Speaker 1: He's not a myth, not a legend. He came in time.
[13:37] Speaker 1: He's the climactic moment of history. He's coming even now.
[13:40] Speaker 1: He wants access to your heart now, and he will
[13:44] Speaker 1: come again at the end of time to bring this
[13:47] Speaker 1: whole great comedy to his fulfillment. And God bless you.

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