“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
3rdDecember 2017.
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FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Reading 1:Is 63:16-17, 64:1,3-8At a time of the year when only a few leaves bravely cling to their branches, Isaiah laments, "We have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.” He prays to God in the name of all his people, asking forgiveness for their sins and placing their lives in his hands.
Res. Psalm: Ps 80:2-3,15-16,18-19Submit to God. Receive him into your life today. Cry out with the psalmist, "If your face shine upon us, then we shall be safe".
Reading 2:1 Cor 1:3-9Paul sounds very positive despite the problems in Corinth because his faith is not in the capabilities of the Corinthians but in God the Father who is faithful to His promises. Paul conveys this conviction to make the Corinthians aware that God's grace is powerful enough to transform their personal lives from sinfulness to ones full of truth and love for Him.
Gospel: Mk 13:33-37 Jesus' calls us to "Look and be watchful". The disciples must be watchful always, as they are not certain of the time of His return.
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ADVENT: BE WATCHFUL, BE ALERT
The Church has some red-letter days, some seasons marked out in a special way to commemorate God’s saving, life-giving love. During these times the Church, educates us in a more concentrated way, provides a more intense encouragement to faith so that, when we respond, we are better prepared for the Lord to give Himself more fully to us.
Advent is one of those special times as a season of preparation for the Feast of Christmas. ‘Advent’ means coming and is the time for the preparation for the coming of the King. Liturgically, it is the time for the celebration of the past event, the historical birth of Jesus. The birth of Jesus as man has taken place. Our preparation is no more like that of the Israel who looked to the future. But as the new Israel, we live the future with the sense of a realization of the coming of the Lord in the present. Our whole life is an advent, a time in which the Lord is coming. Although He has already come to each one of us, He has not fully come. We identify with the waiting ages for whom He had not come. By entering into their condition, making our own their aspirations, their hopes, we are moved to desire His coming more and more; we purify and prepare our hearts.
As we prepare sacramentally, The Lord is coming, the Church announces, ‘Prepare your hearts to receive Him.’ We don’t play act as a drama or theatre, but with an efficacious faith in the liturgy, God is coming as He has never come before. We enter into the mystery of Advent with profound faith and eager desire, believing that God is offering Himself in fullness as never before. He will come, and we watch constantly with an impatient love.
Imagine if Christmas morning came and you woke up suddenly realizing that you forgot to prepare! Imagine if you had no gifts, no food, no decorations and no plans made. Of course we wouldn’t allow that to happen, but we do sometimes allow it to happen spiritually speaking. We often are not prepared to celebrate the birth of Christ within our hearts. The season of Advent is a time of preparation to welcome Jesus anew in our hearts.
How do we do this? It is by having a humble vigilance of heart. A good football player or basketball player always concentrates his attention on the ball and the players. A good student is alert and attentive to the lessons. Jesus outlines two characteristics of the vigilance demanded of his disciples with a parable - the parable of watchful servants. First, in the parable, the slaves are vigilant to receive their master even if he returns any time of the night; Jesus outlines the four watches of the night (in the evening, at midnight, at cockcrow, at dawn). However, Jesus' disciples should be vigilant all the time. Second, the slaves show their vigilance by way of fulfilling their assigned tasks. Similarly, the best way for the Christians to be vigilant is to be fulfilling their assigned tasks, i.e., living a life fulfilling the greatest commandment of God (loving God) and (loving their neighbor).
A good Catholic is one who is physically and mentally vigilant gazing at God, actively participating in prayer and good works. We know that Christmas comes on 25th December. We will be singing carols, choir practice, the church and the surroundings will be decorated with plenty of big stars; most of us will get new clothes and also make special Christmas sweets. All this is good. But the coming of the Lord is not to be seen in these lines. He comes to us silently in our hearts so we can grow in intimacy with Him !We will have to prepare with a good confession spiritually. But repenting of the past is not necessarily a sign of growth or improvement. We have to grow in love with God. As in the birth of Jesus, God came closer to man, we should grow in holiness, and we should meet Jesus. Growing in holiness means learning the art of prayer said St. John Paul II.
We have to be also vigilant in partaking in the life giving sacraments of the Church. We must celebrate the Eucharist in a proper manner, for “Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist she remembers his promise and turns her gaze "to him who is to come." In her prayer she calls for his coming: "Maranatha!" "Come, Lord Jesus!" "May your grace come and this world pass away! (The Catechism of the Catholic Church – 1403)
The desire for closeness to Christ requires us also to draw near to our brothers and sisters, for nothing is more pleasing to the Father than a true sign of mercy. By its very nature, mercy becomes visible and tangible in specific acts. We thus have not only become close to God, but this closeness must drive us to change our lives and those of our brothers and sisters, especially the sick, the poor and the suffering. May the grace of Advent help us to welcome Jesus with vigilant and a humble heart.
Prayer: Lord, as Advent begins, our hearts desire the warmth of your love and our minds are searching for the light of your Word. Increase our for Christ our Saviour and give us strength to grow in love. Help me to open my ears to Your voice, and my heart to Your glorious presence. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen
