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1st Sunday Of Advent

Celebrating 100 years

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Cycle A

Q139: It seems like we have been "waiting" for Jesus to return an awfully long time. Doesn't everyone think that it is rather tiresome, this "waiting"?

There are two focus points to help us with our "impatient" waiting. First, remember Jesus' warning in today's gospel (Mt 24:37-44). There will be dire consequences for those who do not heed the warnings that are plainly given in order to help us. If you don't believe that, Jesus reminds us, look at what happened to the people in Noah's time. We all have "response-ability" – the ability to respond to every situation. Then why do we delay in our preparation? Advent is a reminder of what we should be about.

The second focus point could be your word "tiresome." Why would anyone find it tiresome to prepare for an eternity that can only be gained through grace and that very preparation that Jesus calls for? Is that a burden? Look at it this way: "being ready" for the Lord's coming is a very good way to live! It gives our life a purpose, a goal, a meaning. And it makes us "good company" for our brothers and sisters who are trying to make the same journey of preparation. Keep our eyes on the goal, and our journey will be a joy! The goal is the Good News! Jesus is coming soon!

Reflection: How does the way I am living right now have consequences for my future? Do I need to make any changes? In what specific way do I help my faith community prepare for the "unexpected" coming of Jesus?

Q295: Today's gospel is scary (Mt 24:37-44). Is it hopeless and useless to be concerned about the "end," which absolutely no one can foresee or predict?

On the contrary, we must be very hopeful - - Christ has given us a very clear, daily objective to work towards. The objective is to "be prepared" at all times - - not in fear, but in the hope of being ready to receive our Savior, Jesus. We must also be very concerned that we are doing all we can to welcome Jesus now, so that he will welcome us later.

Keep in mind the context of these so-called "end time" passages in scripture. Just before our gospel today, Christ is weeping over Jerusalem for not recognizing him and accepting him. Then comes the warning to "be prepared," followed by two parables on preparedness. Finally comes the last judgment scene, when all people are judged by how they recognized and responded to Jesus in the needy they encountered daily.

This is one of those "Just as...So..." episodes. Just as the people in Noah's time had ample warning, still they did not heed the call to prepare their hearts; so they experienced the devastation of "the flood." Just as the people and leaders in Jerusalem ignored Jesus' appeal for covenant love and the removal of barriers between God and Others, so they experienced the devastation of the loss of "the temple" and "the land." In this First Sunday of Advent, we hear Jesus repeat his loving concern, his warning: "just as... so you had better prepare your heart, repent, and serve my needy people." This is a message of hope, not of despair.

Know Your Catechism! There is no way we will know precisely when that "final hour" will come about, and Jesus tells us that information will not be revealed to us (CCC #673). The present times are the "time of the Spirit and of witness" about the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ (CCC #672). In the meantime we walk the walk of faith and in the hope that inspires us to serve all of God's people (CCC #1818).

Let Us Cast Off Deeds Of Darkness

Nobody acquainted with the life of St. Augustine of Hippo can hear today's second reading without thinking of him. This was the passage that changed his life: "Let us cast off deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us live honorably…not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousies. Rather, put on the Lord Jesus Christ."

Augustine, you will recall, was a Roman native of Northern Africa, the son of a pagan father and the devout Christian mother whom we venerate as St. Monica. To the grief of his mother, her brilliant son grew up more heathen than Christian. He became an expert in public speaking, teaching that subject both in Africa and in Italy. But he also fell into heretical ways of thinking and pagan ways of living. Monica found that her warnings were ineffectual, so she fell back on prayer. Her prayers were long unanswered, but she kept right on.

As a matter of fact, Augustine was more of a Christian than he himself realized. As he grew older, he found that his heretical friends did not have all the answers; and that his lust enslaved rather than liberated him. More and more he became convinced that the gospel was true. But the cravings of the flesh held him back from an act of faith. He prayed to God "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet!"

Then one day in the year 386, as he sat weeping over the problem in his garden in Milan, he heard over the wall the singsong of a child. "Pick up and read, pick up and read". It was such a strange song that he took it as a hint. A copy lay there of St. Paul's letter to the Romans. He picked it up and his eyes fell on the passage quoted above. As he read it, God's grace flooded his soul. Suddenly he felt no more shackled by his sexual drives. To Monica's great joy he accepted baptism. As we know, he went on to become a priest, a bishop and one of the greatest Christian theologians of all time.

The words of the Scriptures are so familiar to us that too often we ignore their message. During this Advent, why not read them or listen to them with fuller attention? The Holy Spirit may have picked out a passage there that could change our lives.

-Fr. Robert F. McNamara

Q. 452: When will the Second Coming really take place? The Gospel (Matt. 24:37-44) indicates that no one knows; then how can one prepare for that great event?

The “American” Christmas shopping season seems to start around Halloween these days, as merchants appeal to our consumer desires. The sales always start early, and continue for at least sixty days or more. We are bombarded daily with brainwashing advertisements, designed to get us to open our pocketbooks now, to buy more than we need. We rightly enjoy the excitement of the extended holiday season, its joy and celebrations, and its promises. But as Catholics we also try very hard to preserve a sense of spiritual awareness of what Christmas is really all about. If we are distracted even once from this daily goal of Christ-awareness, then the scorecard goes up: Pitchforks 1, Halos 0.

I have a son-in-law who is manager within his firm of a unit with multi-state responsibilities. They make themselves available to help others “24x7”. His unit never knows when the “call for help” will come, but it is always prepared to respond to every client’s computer-related problems or needs at any time of day or night. This is the kind of attitude, on a spiritual level, that Jesus was talking about in the gospel. He told us to be prepared at all times for his Second Coming. No one knows when that will happen, but it will be very sudden and unannounced. If we have focused on spiritual awareness while still living “in” the world, then we have attended to the basics of discipleship.

Always have your bags packed! That is the key to living in an age that ought to be faithfully expecting the return of Jesus in glory. We need to live as if “today” is the day that He will return! That simply means going about our day in quiet and humble confidence, filled with hope that we are living the life of an authentic follower of Jesus. Measures of that hope include the quality of our daily prayer life, our love for neighbor, and our acceptance and adherence to all of the teachings of the Church. That is what Jesus means about being “prepared” and not allowing “thieves” to enter our “house.”

KNOW YOUR CATECHISM! The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch over our hearts and souls (CCC #2849). Vigilance is required (CCC #672), because the Second Coming is imminent (CCC #673).


Page last modified on January 29, 2008, at 09:05 AM