OPTION 3: I’m sure you are familiar with these words especially in competition where the one in charge would say: “Ready! Get Set! Go!” But when we talk about the First Sunday of Advent, this expression would be used but a little bit different: “”Get Ready, Get Set….Wait!”
With the First Sunday of Advent, once again we begin a new season, a New Year of the church’s liturgical year. The word “Advent” is from the Latin word adventum which literally means “coming”. For many of us Advent refers to the coming of Sta. Claus, Christmas bonuses, sumptuous parties and gift-giving. The word “come” is a joyful word. It has a nice and familiar sound. It is because Jesus describes the words that would be used to issue that happy invitation to the just at the end of time: “Come, blessed of my father, into the kingdom prepared for you.”
Come is so different from that awful word “depart” which is an expression that signifies separation, loneliness, loss of love. Depart is the word used by Jesus only in reproach and condemnation: “Depart from me you cursed, into everlasting fire.”
Advent is a season of waiting for the coming of Christ. And during this Advent season of waiting we have to prepare for the three different comings of Christ into our lives.
First, Advent is a preparation for Christ’s coming at Christmas. Advent season is a preparation for the celebration of the 2007th birthday of our Savior, the anniversary of His coming into the world. It is true that the year assigned to the anniversary is not quite exact: an error of a few years was made, perhaps on the order of 4 or 5 years. But this does not mean that our dating system must not be taken into account that Jesus was born in Bethlehem 2,007 years ago.
How should we prepare for this Christ’s coming at Christmas? We should prepare this Christ’s coming by: 1.) being hopeful. Hope is essential for Christian life. We have a right and a duty to be confident that God, who has loved us and called us to eternal life, will never abandon us. He will really give us all the graces we need to overcome every obstacle and finally arrive at the perfect life for which we were made (CCC 1817).
2.) being watchful. To be watchful means to be vigilant. What does vigilance mean? To be vigilant, as I mentioned in my homily in the Saturday of 34th Week of the Year, means three things again: a.) Let us be vigilant against the evil spirit and his temptation. It is because the evil spirit is very real in our ordinary daily living. He is roaming around us. He always finds ways on how to destroy us; on how to attack us especially in our relationship with God. He attacks us when we are sad; at our weakest point; when we are on trials and difficulties in life. But we can overcome evil by our own vigilance, discernment, faithfulness, patience, self-control, determination and faith. b.) Let us be vigilant of our own death. It is because there is nothing certain in this world than our own death. All of us will experience death. Death is our common destiny and no one knows the day or the time that we will die. It is unexpected and so sudden. Like for example, at the present we are talking and joking with somebody but then after a minute we suffer heart attack and on the spot we die. And so the advice of Jesus is that we have to be prepared and be ready at all times. c.) Let us be vigilant for the Second Coming of Christ. On that day we will make an account of our lives. And I hope that this final day should not catch us by surprise.
3.) being prayerful. To prepare the way means to pray well. But many of us have no time to pray. We admit the need for prayers and even ask others to pray for us. We recognize the need for assistance from the Almighty and yet we are saying of having more pressing things to do to than to beg in prayer. These private prayers are somewhat foreign to us until we are caught in a difficult situation of unexpected illness or danger or test.
Then if we do not have regularly prayers what about our children, are they being taught of their morning and evening prayers, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Sign of the Cross, the Grace before Meals? While these are common prayers with set formulas, they become personal and familial through use over a period of time. It is expected that adults and youth, who spend time praying together, stay together. Do youth see parents get down on their knees or just sitting quietly and pray at the start or finish of the day? The teaching of a formula or practice is one thing; seeing another pray may prove a more powerful way of teaching another the need for prayer.
(OR, Let us make Christmas a PASKO, according toFr. Jerry Orbos, SVD, to prepare for Christmas: P – asok Kristo = Make a good confession, be humble; A – tras Bisyo[Alak Babae Sugal {men}-Chismosa Bungangera Nagger {women}], Babae Inum Sugal Yabang Opium [SUGAL]; S – amba Tayo; K – alat bango [instead of tsismis, etc. Talk to God no breath is lost, Walk with God no strength is lost, Wait on God no time is lost-Fr. Nolan Que]; O – ra mismo (do not postpone your conversion-come back to God; do not postpone your loving)
Second, Advent is a preparation for that very personal and significant coming of Christ at the time of our death. Jesus in today’s gospel insists and warns us: “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” Yes it is necessary to watch for we do not know on which day or hour we will meet the Lord. It will be our own personal experience of Christ’s coming to meet us at the end of our life. Advent is a time to give thought and preparation to that meeting. He will issue the invitation to come only once. The invitation may catch us unprepared: our children may not be raised, the mortgage on the house may not be paid; we may not yet be reconciled with the man down the street who once offended us.
Finally, Advent reminds us of the coming of Christ at the end of time. The Second Coming is a term applied to the return of Christ. If there is a second coming, it follows that there must have been a first. The first coming of Christ was His incarnation when He was born. At the second coming of Christ every eye will see Him (Rev. 1:7) as He descends from heavens in the clouds (Matt. 24:30). But no one knows the time of the final coming of Christ; it may be next year, it may yet be thousands of years away. That coming is very hard to visualize. That is why the Lord exhorts us to wake up to the urgent call of renewal from within and have self-examination. Fr. Bel San Luis, SVD said that personal renewal is necessary in any society. There is no true and lasting transformation in society unless there is an inner transformation of individuals. Who commit crimes, pollute rivers, peddle drugs, steal and break laws? It’s not society as an amorphous form but individuals making up that society.
In this sense we should have these attitudes and dispositions for this Advent season, Fr. Nolan Que mentioned them in his homily: Accept all our shortcomings and mistakes and start walking in the light of the Lord (Is 2:1-5); Decide to wake up now and know that the time has come; claim Victory that salvation is near! “The night is almost over”; Embrace the light by giving up darkness; New life is what Advent offers; Thanksgiving should be our response to this great offer.
At the end, St. Paul in our second reading (Rom 13:13) gives us some very good advice. In a nutshell he says that if we are to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ, we should avoid sin. He is specific: stop drinking and avoid the orgies of drugs, promiscuity, lust, rivalry and jealousy. So this is very simple, we must examine our lives and discontinue any sinful practice in which we are involved.
See Today’s Readings: Cycle A
Back to: First Sunday of Advent (Year A)
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