Today we begin the season of Advent; the beginning of a new liturgical year. Advent means coming and the early Christians used the term to refer to the Second Coming of Christ. Advent is a time for us to reflect on the actual birth of Christ more than 2000 years ago and to prepare ourselves for the time when our Lord will come again in glory. For most of us, Advent is a time of preparedness but not in the manner our early Christian ancestors envisioned. Many of us see Advent as the four weeks we have to pull everything together for our Christmas celebrations. It is the time for shopping, baking, decorating, partying, sending cards and working ourselves into a total frenzy. It is easy to get so caught up in the hustle and bustle that we loose sight of the sacred significance of this time. Don't worry about the parties, the cards, the presents or Christmas dinner. Rather, focus on what is important, getting ourselves ready for that time when "the Son of Man will come” (Matt. 24: 44).
All three of our readings today provide us with suggestions about how we can prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord. In a vision, Isaiah sees people streaming to “the mountain of the Lord’s house” so that God can instruct them in His ways and they can “walk in the light of the Lord”! St. Paul reminds the Christians of Rome and us that we are to “throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light,” and that we must “conduct ourselves properly as in the day.” And in our Gospel from Matthew 24: 37-44, Jesus, himself, tells us to “stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”
Lord, mighty God, once, long ago,
your Son Jesus Christ came as God with a human face.
And yet, we are still waiting in hope for his full coming today.
Make us more aware that you too are waiting for us
to create with you the peace and the freedom,
the love, justice, and light
that bear witness before all that your Son is here and is alive
and that one day he will take us into the lasting light
of your home for ever and ever.
Amen.
