11-27-2011, 09:31 AM
27 November, 2011, 1st Sunday of Advent, Year B
OUR LIFE IS ONE LONG WAITING FOR THE LORD TO COME
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 63:16-17; 64:1.3-8; 1 COR 1:3-9; MK 13:33-37
Today is the first day of the new liturgical year. Today, we also begin the season of Advent. What is Advent? Advent means “coming” and “arrival.” But who is coming? Of course, Jesus Christ our king is coming. But more importantly, when is He coming? This is the question that the Liturgy wants us to reflect on. For most of us, it is obvious, that Christ is coming on Christmas day. After all, the decorations and lights are already up. But this is not quite correct. For if we are preparing for the coming of Christ on Christmas day, are we then saying that Christ has not yet come? Certainly we all know that Christ has already come, more than two thousand years ago. Indeed, the first intention of Advent is to remind us that Christ has already come.
That being the case, you might ask, what is the point of celebrating Christmas? If we celebrate Christmas it is in order that Christ might come again in a new, special and intense manner. How could this be possible? Precisely, by contemplating on the First Coming, that is, the coming of Christ at the Incarnation! For when we deepen our understanding of the Incarnation, of God assuming our humanity in the flesh, then we come to appreciate who we are and what we are called to. The questions that humanity asks, such as, “Who am I? Why am I here? Why suffer? Why death?” are answered in Christ’s life, passion, death and resurrection. Only in the incarnation, can we be hopeful that the world is not lost and not going nowhere. History has now a future in spite of the contradictions in the world, such as sufferings, wars, natural disasters, growing immorality and sins. In Christ, we know that history, which has been assumed by God, is moving towards fulfillment. That is why, the coming of Christ gives us hope, just as God gave hope to the Israelites who felt lost in their sins and exile.
But it is not enough to speak of Christ’s first coming, for we know that the life of Christ did not end in death but that He lives on in the resurrection and in the Holy Spirit. Consequently, we speak not only of Christ’s first coming; Advent also wants us to remember that He is coming at every moment of our lives. He comes to us in our sufferings, for in suffering He invites us to become more conscious of ourselves and learn to empathize with others. He comes to us in our failures because He wants us to learn from our mistakes. He comes to us in our success and in good times. He comes to us in our emptiness so that we begin to yearn for what Him who only can give us everlasting life. He comes to us especially when we love. He comes to us in a special way in our neighbours.
For in the Incarnation, He has now identified Himself with us, especially the poor, for in the gospel last Sunday, He said, “whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do it to me.” But most of all, He comes to us at prayer when we experience His love in our hearts. In a very special and par excellence manner, He comes to us in the sacraments, in reconciliation and in the Eucharist, for there we meet Him and experience His unconditional love and mercy. If we cannot recognize Him in the daily situations in our lives, it is because we are not awake, as the gospel reminds us. We therefore miss out His coming in the various events of our lives. Instead of looking for Him and being alert to His presence, we are waiting and looking for His coming elsewhere.
However, to speak of His coming here and now would still be incomplete, for our history is not going round in circles. History is moving towards the End, the Omega Point, the point of fulfillment. That is why Advent does not only focus on the present coming of Christ but His final coming. Clearly, the gospel’s theme is on the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus exhorts us to stay awake for we do not know when the master is returning. It is only in the Second Coming of Christ that History reaches its goal. For this reason, the early Christians were waiting anxiously for the return of Christ. Their constant prayer was “Maranatha”, that is “Come Lord Jesus!” Yes, they could not wait for His return. Having encountered Him in the resurrection, they longed for Him to return so that they could be with Him forever.
However, for many of us, this theme does not sound very consoling since Advent is supposed to be a season of hope. In truth, many of us are not interested in the Second Coming of Christ. Rather than sharing the sentiments of the early Christians, we say to the Lord, “Please do not come. Definitely not now and not too soon either!” In saying this, what are we implying? We are saying that we are dreading His second coming. But why do we dread His Second Coming? This is strange. Suppose our loved one has gone abroad for some business or studies. And suddenly, he or she calls to tell us that he or she is returning the next day. Shouldn’t we be happy and excited that our darling is returning home earlier than planned? Or do we become anxious and in dismay, we tell our loved one, “Please do not come back too early. Stay for a few more weeks or even months.” If we are saying this, then obviously we do not love that person. Perhaps, our lives are not in order. We are having an affair or flirting around and for this reason we do not want our spouse or friend to return home.
So it is clear that if we dread the Second Coming of Christ, it is because we have resisted His First Coming. If we fear the Second Coming of Christ, it is because do not love Christ. We love our sins and the attractions of the world more than Christ. That is why we do not want Him to come. We want to continue to live in this sinful world. Yes, if we fear the Second Coming, it is as St Paul says, we are not living blameless lives. Only when we live lives of integrity and truth, can we have the courage to meet Christ who is the fullness of truth and life. Without a clear conscience, we will feel too embarrassed to meet Him.
Consequently, we cannot be excited about His Second Coming unless we have already welcomed Him everyday into our lives. Unless, we have experienced His love, here and now, how can we be like the early Christians who looked forward to His Second Coming? But if we experience His love and presence now, we would surely desire to have the fullness of what we have possessed as a promise and a foretaste of what is more to come. Only those who have tasted the love of God now can desire the fullness of it in the Second Coming.
Thus, if we want to be prepared for the Second Coming of Christ, what must we do now? We must, as the Israelites did, remove the sins from our lives. It is our sins that prevent us from recognizing the presence of God. Sin dulls our minds and our conscience. Sin is to love oneself rather than to love others and God for themselves alone. Sin makes us miserable, guilty and incomplete. Yes, we need to ask the Lord to help us to come to our senses and realize that our sins are preventing us from being truly happy in life.
Secondly, we must in the meantime, give ourselves totally to our work. This is what the gospel is reminding us. Like the servants who went about their tasks and the housekeeper symbolizing those who have responsibilities over others, we must be faithful to our state of life. If we are parents, we must be exemplary and dedicated parents. If we are workers, we must give our best to our work. If we are students, we must study hard. If we are homemakers, then we do all that we can to make the house a more comfortable place to live. When we have done our part and given our best, then our conscience is clear. There is no need to fear, for we know that in the eyes of God, we have been faithful. And St Paul tells us that God is even more faithful to us.
Yet, we know how difficult it is to overcome our sins. Like the Israelites, we must implore God’s mercy and love. We must ask Him to rain down from heaven His grace and love. Like the psalmist we must pray that He will show His face to us. Like him, we must plead with God to intervene again as He did in the days of old, and bring about a new exodus of salvation. We must pray that God will once again rend apart the heavens where He dwells and intervene. Without His grace, we cannot open our hearts and minds to God. Thus let us, with the psalmist, pray and ask the Lord to rain down and intervene on our behalf so that we can give up sins which cling so tenaciously to us. Once again in our predicament, we must recognize that we cannot live without God and realize that God is our only hope of salvation because ‘he is our Father’; ‘Our Redeemer is your ancient name’. So the spirit of Advent invites us to recognize our needs so that we can turn to God in hope and humble prayer, imploring the Lord to come once again because we are His children. Like the Israelites, we must acknowledge our helplessness and place our hope in God who is our Father and redeemer who will not forget the work of His own hands.
Indeed, our whole life is one of spiritual waiting for the Lord to come. We are always reflecting on his First Coming so that we might become more aware of His presence in our lives here and now. Nevertheless, we must not only live in the past but we must experience the Lord present in our lives now so that we can look forward to His final coming.
We will be celebrating Christmas in four weeks’ time. Christmas would mean nothing if we do not prepare our hearts to welcome Him now into our lives. In fact, more sins are committed at Christmas because people in merry making get drunk and fight and kill others. Christmas at any rate would just be a day, come and gone. But if we have made our hearts ready for the Lord to come to us here and now, then Christmas would be such a great day, for we will experience His love so intensely. We would not be simply hoping to receive gifts, for all these earthly gifts cannot be compared to Christ the great gift of God to us. What greater gift can we receive than to receive Christ Himself? To receive Him is to receive His Love, Truth and Life, a joy that nothing can compare.
OUR LIFE IS ONE LONG WAITING FOR THE LORD TO COME
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 63:16-17; 64:1.3-8; 1 COR 1:3-9; MK 13:33-37
Today is the first day of the new liturgical year. Today, we also begin the season of Advent. What is Advent? Advent means “coming” and “arrival.” But who is coming? Of course, Jesus Christ our king is coming. But more importantly, when is He coming? This is the question that the Liturgy wants us to reflect on. For most of us, it is obvious, that Christ is coming on Christmas day. After all, the decorations and lights are already up. But this is not quite correct. For if we are preparing for the coming of Christ on Christmas day, are we then saying that Christ has not yet come? Certainly we all know that Christ has already come, more than two thousand years ago. Indeed, the first intention of Advent is to remind us that Christ has already come.
That being the case, you might ask, what is the point of celebrating Christmas? If we celebrate Christmas it is in order that Christ might come again in a new, special and intense manner. How could this be possible? Precisely, by contemplating on the First Coming, that is, the coming of Christ at the Incarnation! For when we deepen our understanding of the Incarnation, of God assuming our humanity in the flesh, then we come to appreciate who we are and what we are called to. The questions that humanity asks, such as, “Who am I? Why am I here? Why suffer? Why death?” are answered in Christ’s life, passion, death and resurrection. Only in the incarnation, can we be hopeful that the world is not lost and not going nowhere. History has now a future in spite of the contradictions in the world, such as sufferings, wars, natural disasters, growing immorality and sins. In Christ, we know that history, which has been assumed by God, is moving towards fulfillment. That is why, the coming of Christ gives us hope, just as God gave hope to the Israelites who felt lost in their sins and exile.
But it is not enough to speak of Christ’s first coming, for we know that the life of Christ did not end in death but that He lives on in the resurrection and in the Holy Spirit. Consequently, we speak not only of Christ’s first coming; Advent also wants us to remember that He is coming at every moment of our lives. He comes to us in our sufferings, for in suffering He invites us to become more conscious of ourselves and learn to empathize with others. He comes to us in our failures because He wants us to learn from our mistakes. He comes to us in our success and in good times. He comes to us in our emptiness so that we begin to yearn for what Him who only can give us everlasting life. He comes to us especially when we love. He comes to us in a special way in our neighbours.
For in the Incarnation, He has now identified Himself with us, especially the poor, for in the gospel last Sunday, He said, “whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do it to me.” But most of all, He comes to us at prayer when we experience His love in our hearts. In a very special and par excellence manner, He comes to us in the sacraments, in reconciliation and in the Eucharist, for there we meet Him and experience His unconditional love and mercy. If we cannot recognize Him in the daily situations in our lives, it is because we are not awake, as the gospel reminds us. We therefore miss out His coming in the various events of our lives. Instead of looking for Him and being alert to His presence, we are waiting and looking for His coming elsewhere.
However, to speak of His coming here and now would still be incomplete, for our history is not going round in circles. History is moving towards the End, the Omega Point, the point of fulfillment. That is why Advent does not only focus on the present coming of Christ but His final coming. Clearly, the gospel’s theme is on the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus exhorts us to stay awake for we do not know when the master is returning. It is only in the Second Coming of Christ that History reaches its goal. For this reason, the early Christians were waiting anxiously for the return of Christ. Their constant prayer was “Maranatha”, that is “Come Lord Jesus!” Yes, they could not wait for His return. Having encountered Him in the resurrection, they longed for Him to return so that they could be with Him forever.
However, for many of us, this theme does not sound very consoling since Advent is supposed to be a season of hope. In truth, many of us are not interested in the Second Coming of Christ. Rather than sharing the sentiments of the early Christians, we say to the Lord, “Please do not come. Definitely not now and not too soon either!” In saying this, what are we implying? We are saying that we are dreading His second coming. But why do we dread His Second Coming? This is strange. Suppose our loved one has gone abroad for some business or studies. And suddenly, he or she calls to tell us that he or she is returning the next day. Shouldn’t we be happy and excited that our darling is returning home earlier than planned? Or do we become anxious and in dismay, we tell our loved one, “Please do not come back too early. Stay for a few more weeks or even months.” If we are saying this, then obviously we do not love that person. Perhaps, our lives are not in order. We are having an affair or flirting around and for this reason we do not want our spouse or friend to return home.
So it is clear that if we dread the Second Coming of Christ, it is because we have resisted His First Coming. If we fear the Second Coming of Christ, it is because do not love Christ. We love our sins and the attractions of the world more than Christ. That is why we do not want Him to come. We want to continue to live in this sinful world. Yes, if we fear the Second Coming, it is as St Paul says, we are not living blameless lives. Only when we live lives of integrity and truth, can we have the courage to meet Christ who is the fullness of truth and life. Without a clear conscience, we will feel too embarrassed to meet Him.
Consequently, we cannot be excited about His Second Coming unless we have already welcomed Him everyday into our lives. Unless, we have experienced His love, here and now, how can we be like the early Christians who looked forward to His Second Coming? But if we experience His love and presence now, we would surely desire to have the fullness of what we have possessed as a promise and a foretaste of what is more to come. Only those who have tasted the love of God now can desire the fullness of it in the Second Coming.
Thus, if we want to be prepared for the Second Coming of Christ, what must we do now? We must, as the Israelites did, remove the sins from our lives. It is our sins that prevent us from recognizing the presence of God. Sin dulls our minds and our conscience. Sin is to love oneself rather than to love others and God for themselves alone. Sin makes us miserable, guilty and incomplete. Yes, we need to ask the Lord to help us to come to our senses and realize that our sins are preventing us from being truly happy in life.
Secondly, we must in the meantime, give ourselves totally to our work. This is what the gospel is reminding us. Like the servants who went about their tasks and the housekeeper symbolizing those who have responsibilities over others, we must be faithful to our state of life. If we are parents, we must be exemplary and dedicated parents. If we are workers, we must give our best to our work. If we are students, we must study hard. If we are homemakers, then we do all that we can to make the house a more comfortable place to live. When we have done our part and given our best, then our conscience is clear. There is no need to fear, for we know that in the eyes of God, we have been faithful. And St Paul tells us that God is even more faithful to us.
Yet, we know how difficult it is to overcome our sins. Like the Israelites, we must implore God’s mercy and love. We must ask Him to rain down from heaven His grace and love. Like the psalmist we must pray that He will show His face to us. Like him, we must plead with God to intervene again as He did in the days of old, and bring about a new exodus of salvation. We must pray that God will once again rend apart the heavens where He dwells and intervene. Without His grace, we cannot open our hearts and minds to God. Thus let us, with the psalmist, pray and ask the Lord to rain down and intervene on our behalf so that we can give up sins which cling so tenaciously to us. Once again in our predicament, we must recognize that we cannot live without God and realize that God is our only hope of salvation because ‘he is our Father’; ‘Our Redeemer is your ancient name’. So the spirit of Advent invites us to recognize our needs so that we can turn to God in hope and humble prayer, imploring the Lord to come once again because we are His children. Like the Israelites, we must acknowledge our helplessness and place our hope in God who is our Father and redeemer who will not forget the work of His own hands.
Indeed, our whole life is one of spiritual waiting for the Lord to come. We are always reflecting on his First Coming so that we might become more aware of His presence in our lives here and now. Nevertheless, we must not only live in the past but we must experience the Lord present in our lives now so that we can look forward to His final coming.
We will be celebrating Christmas in four weeks’ time. Christmas would mean nothing if we do not prepare our hearts to welcome Him now into our lives. In fact, more sins are committed at Christmas because people in merry making get drunk and fight and kill others. Christmas at any rate would just be a day, come and gone. But if we have made our hearts ready for the Lord to come to us here and now, then Christmas would be such a great day, for we will experience His love so intensely. We would not be simply hoping to receive gifts, for all these earthly gifts cannot be compared to Christ the great gift of God to us. What greater gift can we receive than to receive Christ Himself? To receive Him is to receive His Love, Truth and Life, a joy that nothing can compare.