1st Sunday of Advent Year A
“Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming”. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Amen! Good morning my brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, as most of us have known by now already is 1st Sunday of Advent year A. This is to say today we begin the new liturgical year. Let me begin by saying to you all happy Catholic New Year!
The key to any successful event is preparation and let me add immediately that the key to any successful event is not just preparation but a good preparation. One can prepare for an event but wrongly. For instance, a student in the final year in secondary School by mistake can read geography all night and in the morning the paper is History. Would you think he will pass that paper? I do not think so. Why? The reason is that he had prepared but a wrong preparation. Advent offers us the opportunity to commemorate Christ’s coming at first Christmas and at the same time to prepare for his second coming.
If there is any greatest celebration or festival that is better celebrated and loved by all Christians throughout the world it is Christmas. One Christian writer said that there is no day during the year that is better known and loved than 25th December. All over the world, people prepare in advance for Christmas. Children especially look forward to it. The presents and gifts they will receive and parties they will attend. Students have come home with eagerness for their holidays and hoping for the parties, they would celebrate. Families prepare in buying food and drinks especially meat and alcohol.
In some preparations, there is little awareness that Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. Since the Church is very aware that Jesus is the Reason for the season, she dedicates four weeks for the preparation. During these weeks Christians prepare themselves spiritually for the worthy celebration the great feast of Christmas. It is a preparation of the coming of God into our Sinful world; the birth of the Son of God among us. Emmanuel, God is with us.
As we have mentioned earlier that in Advent we are called upon to prepare ourselves to commemorate the first coming of Christ as our savior at first Christmas and at the same time to prepare for his second coming. The Gospel reading also reminds us of the day of reckoning when Christ will come as our judge. In the passage Christ Himself emphasizes the unexpectedness and suddenness of when this will be and asks us to so live our lives in such a way that no matter when we are called we shall not be found wanting. “You too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at a time you do not expect”, he tells us.
This does not mean that we must take no interest in the affairs of this life or that we should spend our whole life on our knees. Instead, it means that we must so carry out our daily tasks in life as part of our loyal service to God. Come to face it, all of us here are occupied in one way or the other with earthly affairs and necessarily so. But while these earthly affairs may, and do unfortunately, become cruel taskmasters for some and tie down their whole attention to things of this earth, for others, thank God, such daily tasks are stepping-stones to heaven. The day of reckoning will come, suddenly like a thief in the night for the former, but for the others it will not be a thief breaking in but the master knocking at their door to take them to himself.
Advent is the season when we call to mind the terrible situation that the world was in before Jesus came. Only by appreciating it can we celebrate with proper joy the coming of Jesus on the first Christmas. But Advent is more than that. It is also the season when we call to mind the fact that Jesus will come again. This time around he will come to judge each of us, personally, on how well we have contributed to the work that he left for us to complete.
You and I have been said to be living in the interval between the lightening of the first coming of Jesus and the thunder of his Second Coming. What the angel said to the apostles right after Jesus was taken up into heaven applies to us too: “Why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven (Acts 1:10-11). Our job on earth, as we wait for Jesus’ return, is not, therefore, to stand idly by looking up to heaven. Rather it is to roll up our sleeves and complete the work Jesus gave us to do. We are to use the workbench Jesus built for us to complete God’s kingdom on earth.
In view of this Second Coming of Jesus, tomorrow has arrived ‘today, necessitating a proper life-style. The death and the resurrection of Christ have and should transform our way of living. There is no doubt that the end has not yet arrived; the demands of the death and resurrection of Jesus need a radical way of living. Quarrelling, jealousy, cheating, sexual excesses are completely out of character with this way of life. This awareness of the future should have an impact on our lives and change our attitude towards today’s attitudes. Vigilance about the future break-in should lead to asking about and taking precautions today. The future kingdom of love and concern which Jesus has introduced has to be made evident today as we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger in our midst, work for peace, and love one another as Jesus loved us. Advent is a time when we check to see how well we, personally, are doing this. Advent is a time when we remember, in a special way, that when Jesus comes, he will judge us on what we have done and what we have failed to do in his absence.
Advent is not just a time to get ready to celebrate the first coming of Jesus at Christmas. It is also a time to get ready to celebrate the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of time. Paul tells us in the second reading: “Our salvation is closer than we first accepted the faith. The night is far spent; the day draws near. Therefore, cast off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light”. Advent challenges us to ask ourselves three important questions: What are we doing- right now- to build God’s kingdom on earth? What we ought to be doing- right now? What will we begin to do right now on this first Sunday? I do hope these questions will keep us awake throughout this holy season of advent.
