Halina Hesus
Rev. Fr. Erl Dylan Tabaco, SSC

Halina, Hesus, Halina (Come, Jesus come) is one of the Tagalog Advent songs that captures my heart. I remember during my childhood years, when the choir in my hometown parish sung this song, it signaled that we were about to enter a new liturgical season, accompanied by the excitement of the people towards Christmas. As years passed by, I began to appreciate the value of Advent in my spiritual life by not rushing it. Oftentimes, we get disturbed and we don't even have ample time to reflect deeply on how our preparation during the Advent season helps us understand the true meaning of Christmas. When our attention is hooked to different propaganda, a tactic used by a consumerist society, extravagant display of massive decorations and emerging need to have something new that we can boast to our friends, then what we are celebrating is not the coming of God in our lives. As I go over the lyrics of the song, it made me reflect on the importance of our need for God which underscores the season of Advent.

There is something in the lyrics that awakens our desire to be with the Lord. It so magical that made us wonder what could our life be when we have God at the center of our being. We could have lived life purposely and all our priorities are totally oriented to what God wants from us.

As I reflect on how beautifully orchestrated every word of the song, we are brought to the underlying theme that gives us the real meaning of what Advent season is all about. The Coming of God in our lives happens every day even in the most unexpected moments or undesirable circumstances that we are going through. He is the God who knows everything who we are. He sees what is in our hearts. He feels the pain that we are going through. He accompanies us in our joys, laughter, successes, failures, grief, and all seasons of life. The more we long to be with him, the more we feel that he is already with us. It takes openness on our part so we can truly submit ourselves. I believe this is what the lines of the song want to convey.

Halina, Hesus, halina
Halina, Hesus, Halina!
Sa simula isinaloob Mo
O D'yos, kaligtasan ng tao
Sa takdang panahon ay tinawag Mo
Isang bayang lingkod sa Iyo
Gabay ng Iyong bayang hinirang
Ang pag-asa sa Iyong Mesiya
"Emmanuel" ang pangalang bigay sa Kanya
"Nasa atin ang D'yos tuwina."

Even before we claim our necessity of God, our Lord is already reaching out to us. The song was spelled out beautifully our eagerness to welcome the Lord in our lives. Through this song, we profess that in God alone we see the real meaning of our lives. In God alone, we rise up from our failures. In God alone, we witness the hope of a new day. In God alone, we can truly forgive and let go of all our resentments. In God alone, we experience that we are truly loved. This is the deepest longing of the human heart and we keep on waiting that this desire will be realized.

As we start the season of Advent today, we recognize that all of us are people of waiting. Waiting is part of the human condition. All of us are waiting for something or someone in our life. It is in waiting that we could say there is still an emptiness in our hearts that will never be satisfied. In our constant waiting for what we want in life, we know from our experience that not all of them happened the way we wanted. Some of those happened in a different way or totally different from what we have been longing for. Nevertheless, our waiting should never put us in vain because, amidst all of these, the source of all our longings will surely come and He is already within us. This is the source of our hope. This is the reason why the season of Advent leads us to be vigilant and eagerly wait as we welcome Emmanuel in our lives.

Our readings for today give us various reasons why we keep waiting with eagerness for the Lord and how this waiting be the source of our hope. In most cases, we called the Lord in times of tribulations and in the darkest moments of our lives. We beg for His presence to rescue us and lead us to the path where we can find rest. When we don't know already the turn of events in our lives, our eagerness to be with the Lord becomes a call of submission. This is shown by the experience of the Israelites when they became captives of the foreign powers. They suffered terribly and longed for the presence of Yahweh. In their desperate need for liberation, they recognized that their infidelity with the covenant relationship of Yahweh led them astray.

Prophet Isaiah in our first reading highlights the outcry of God´s people and how their supplications were answered. They profess their eagerness to have God in their lives as they say, “Would you that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean men, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; we all have withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; for you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt. Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter, we are all the work of your hands." Their eagerness manifested the importance of God in their lives. Same with the Israelites, we also go through situations where our waiting for the Lord becomes active, eager, and immediate. We cry for His help to be with us especially during the times of pandemic and at this time where there are many armed conflicts between nations, influx of migration and deleterious impact of climate change that escalated the suffering of our countless brothers and sisters. We want the Lord to rescue us from our fear and to calm the storms that we are going through. Our waiting becomes very personal and profound once we recognize that without God, nothing will happen in our life.

To be humble and open to God´s ways as he constantly reveals Himself to us unlocks the gate of heaven for the superabundant grace that he keeps showering us. Though we don´t understand fully His will, we just have to trust Him and to wait eagerly to fulfill his promise for all of us. If not all our waiting happens the way we want them, one thing for sure, God´s coming into our lives surely does. This is the confidence of Paul that he shared with the people of the Corinthians which is expressed in our second reading today. Paul said, "I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, and by him, you were called to fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

The fulfillment of God’s promise is Jesus Christ who is the one who conquered sin and death. The source of our hope is already within us. We just have to believe in Jesus who is God’s promise became visible, alive, and available to all of us. As God fulfilled his promise, we too are asked to accept in faith. Once we accept in faith that Jesus is God’s fulfilled promise we need to remain alert and vigilant for many possible things that would happen along our way. In Mark´s Gospel, we wrestled with an apocalyptic image that could draw out fear, anxiousness, and insecurity. An image of tribulation, destruction, and darkness will take place as a sign that the coming of the “Son of Man” is near. These images should not disturb us rather strengthen us in our faith in the fulfilled promise of God who is about to come in glory. We should not falter in our faith and not waiver in our perseverance to follow the will of God in our lives. Once we do it then there is nothing to be afraid of. We need to stand erect and lift our heads high for our deliverance is drawing near. What had happened in the destruction of Jerusalem during Jesus’ time is a prefiguration of what’s going to happen at the end of time. We have witnessed many unpleasant events in our society today from the destruction of our environment to the destruction of human life. Nations are fighting against nations. People are using other people for their personal gain. These incidences could overwhelm us and it is very tempting to lose our hope and focus on Jesus. Nevertheless, we should not give in to anything that impedes us to remain sober and faithful. Having a firm faith that God keeps his promise and fulfilled in Jesus then there is nothing to be afraid of.

Let not our worries and anxieties in this world take away our gaze on Jesus. We have to stay alert and eagerly waits for the coming of the Lord. He surely comes but the question would be, "Are we ready to welcome Him in and through different circumstances of our lives? Our answer depends on how faithful we are in all our attempts to welcome the Lord as we welcome our brothers and sisters in need.

As we journey this Advent season, may all of us have the desire to wait eagerly for the Lord. May our hearts filled with hopeful anticipation in welcoming God as the only ONE who can satisfy our deepest longing. May this Advent season help us to deepen how important God’s promise of saving us not just for a day but all throughout our life. Amen.

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