November
27, 2016
1st Sunday
of Advent
Isaiah
2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44
The story is
told about a parish priest who saw a piece of paper at the foot of Jesus’
statue and on it was written the prayer: “Lord, give me a bike!” He smiled,
feeling edified with the simple faith of a little child. The next day, he saw another
note: “Lord, still no bike. Please give me a bike!” On the third day, the priest
was surprised that the statue of Mama Mary was gone, and where it stood was a
piece of paper with a note that said: “Lord, you better give me a bike or you’ll
never again see your mother alive.”
Today is the
first Sunday of Advent. In today’s gospel, we are reminded that the coming of
the Lord is something that will come as a surprise, something that is totally
beyond our control. That is why Advent season reminds us to be vigilant, to
stay awake and be prepared for the coming of the Lord. What preparations are we
supposed to do?
Let
us reflect on this question in three points:
THE
ADVENT SEASON INVITES US MORE TO AN INTERNAL PREPARATION. According
to the Christmas countdown, how many days are there to go
before Christmas? 28 days to be exact. As early as now, people have
been busy with lots of external preparations: putting up Christmas decorations,
organizing Christmas parties, preparing gifts and many more. These are
all good. But let us not forget our internal preparation: the preparation
of our hearts.
Isaiah tells us
in the first reading, we prepare by cleansing our hearts
from thoughts of hatred and violence. Paul tells us in the second
reading, we prepare by cleansing our hearts from deeds of darkness: orgies,
drunkenness, promiscuity, lust, rivalry and jealousy. My dear friends, the Advent
season reminds us that the most important preparation we have to make to welcome
Jesus is the internal preparation and cleansing of our hearts. What effect will
this bring to us?
PREPARING
OUR HEARTS WILL KEEP US AWAKE. When Jesus says, we need to stay awake.
He is not just referring to our physical capacity to sleep. Deeds of darkness
or our sinfulness put our spirits into a state of sleeping to the point that we
are no longer affected by anything. So much so that if Jesus comes, we might
not see him. If Jesus knocks, we might not hear it because we are asleep.
During the time of Noah, God has already been warning people by giving them
signs. But how come people were not aware of it? Because their wickedness put
them in deep sleep. They were totally unconcerned about what is happening
around them. Remember that in the book of Genesis it came to a point that God
regretted creating human beings because of their wickedness. The Lord was so upset that he wanted to
destroy everything except the righteous family of Noah. Advent is a good opportunity
to check ourselves, check our hearts and take from it wickedness, sinfulness
and evil deeds that put us to deep sleep.
THE
ADVENT SEASON INVITES US TO A SPIRIT OF JOYFUL ANTICIPATION. We are joyful not because of the
commercial value of Christmas. We are joyful not
because of gifts and bonuses that come to us during season. We are joyful
because God will come as our Savior. But how can we be joyful if the
gospel talks about frightening things that will happen in the end of the
world? We must understand that this is merely symbolic language. What Jesus meant by
this is that when the Lord comes again, the old world will end and pass away.
When the Lord comes, we need to say goodbye to the old world so that
salvation may come to us. We need not be frightened because our Savior will do no
harm. God created us not
to destroy us but to save us. But we must not forget our responsibility: we
need to prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord.
As we enter this
season of Advent, may we be reminded to stay awake and be prepared for the
Lord’s coming by cleansing our hearts from deeds of darkness. The Lord will
come to save us. May he find us always ready for his coming. Amen.
