"The Son of Man will come"
The Word for Sunday: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/120113.cfm
Is 2: 1-5
Rm 13: 11-14
Mt 24: 37 – 44
Some
of us are very good at finding time for leisure and others may find themselves
caught up in the work a day world and make little time for a healthy break now
and then. In the extreme we may know
people we would describe as “work-a-holics” and others we may wonder what could
motivate them to get going. Others are
very good at detail work while others care little about details and find
themselves constantly fixed on the big picture.
The
point of all this is that while the extremes of how we spend our time in a
balance between work and pleasure is important, the key to success is to stay focused on a
meaningful accomplishment. For us
Christians, in this liturgical season we call Advent, the meaningful focus for
all of us is the importance of paying attention and being alert for the coming of
Christ. As we hear in the Gospel this
Sunday: “So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect,
the Son of Man will come.”
On
one level this may strike a bit of fear in our hearts and on another level some
relief. What are we to do? St. Paul in the second reading advises us: “Let us
then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light . . .” It is
obviously true that we know “not the day or the hour” of Jesus' second coming to
earth. Likewise, we don’t know the day
when we will be called from this life to eternal life. But as those days and times approach, we need
not fear if we live in a spirit of vigilance.
If our lives reflect faithfulness to the Lord’s commands, if we are
using our time well and live in a healthy balance between the things of this
world and the things of the spirit, then we need not fear. Yet, our lives are essentially a balance, almost a tension, between the material and spiritual.
Advent
is clearly a time to prepare for the Lord’s coming among us. A time to find a good balance between our lives in this life and those of the next. In the beginning of Advent we see the big picture – the
end times. Our lives now are a space between when Jesus, born on this earth as a helpless child, returns
as the risen and victorious King who comes for the final judgment and the final
destruction of evil. That may sound a
far way off to our ears, however.
Looking at the signs of the time in which we live, we wonder if evil
will ever be destroyed. But the Gospel reminds us to not be fooled and lulled
into complacency, “As it was in the days of Noah . . . in those days before the
flood . . .”
Each
and every day of our lives we are called to discern where God is present in the
daily events of our lives. The future
holds wonders which remain hidden from us now. Yet, if all we ever do is stare out
the window with hopes for something better, assuming the grass will be greener
somewhere else, then we are missing the present opportunity. Advent brings us
hope and light. Though the great King
will come at some future time, we have no control over that. But he is present to us now in sacrament, in
prayer, in the call to serve one another in love, in our friends, family and
strangers. Christ comes today to teach us how to live so are we paying
attention?
In
a world which has become somewhat obsessed with fear and materialism which
never fulfills completely, Advent hope in Christ’s presence among us is a
message rich and beautiful. We make Christ present to others when we do good
for them, when we pray for them, when we do not judge but forgive. All of this may well create a longing in us
as Jesus approaches at Christmastime.
Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,
the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ
with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,
they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.
(Collect: Roman Missal)
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