Reflection for week of November 28th

1st Sunday of Advent 2010

By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFD
Mission Sts. Sergius & Bacchus/ Franciscans of Divine Mercy
http://www.missionstsergius.org/
Based on the readings Isaaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:37-44


“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall go and say, Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come you, and let us walk in the light of the LORD” these words from Isaiah 2:1-5 prepare us for meeting God and foretell of the coming of the Redeemer and Savior and the coming of Christ the light of God‘s truth came into being.
The second reading from Paul’s letter to the people of Rome reads thusly; “The day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
The message for the first Sunday of Advent is to be prepared, to be prepared for the time when God calls us home which means that we need to examine how we are living our daily lives now.
The Gospel from Matthew proclaims the following; “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man shall be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ….. Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come. But know this, that if the manager of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes.”
The season of Advent is a season of the church year that is set aside to remind us that our time here on earth is a time of preparing for our eternal life as well as preparing to celebrate the birth of our redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We are being called to prepare ourselves to meet our creator and answer to Him as how well we have used the gifts He has provided us with.
How will we meet Him? Will we meet him with tattered clothing or will we meet Him with clean and shining souls which is the clothing that God sees.
In a Broadway musical JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR there is a chant that proclaims “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” It says exactly what we are called to do while living on here on God’s planet.
God put every person on earth to prepare ourselves to meet him and expects us to explain how and why we lived our lives as we did. We will be asked questions like; “Did we care for His all His creations?” “Were we mindful of the environment and protect it?” “Did we have compassion for the poor and disadvantaged?” “Did we treat all those we met on our life’s journey with respect recognizing them as one of our brothers and sisters in Christ and not discriminate against them?” “Did we use the Gifts God provided us with in a manner that they were intended for or did we misuse them only for personal pleasure and/or financial gain or go about our being self centered, caring only for our own comfort and pleasure without regard for how our actions affected others?” “Did we thank God daily for the gifts we have no matter how small and did we appreciate the people who were placed in our lives, even those who criticize us and pointed out our faults and pray for those who have caused us pain and suffering?”
These are some of the questions God expects us to answer in agreement with the teachings of Christ.
So many of us go about our daily lives without ever taking the time to recognize what is around us or what gifts we have been given, we only turn to God when things go badly.
I do not want to count the many times I have heard people say, “Where is God when people are dying from Cancer, Aids, or other divesting diseases, why God allows innocent children and the poor to suffer so much?”
My response, which seems logical to me is “so that you will have reasons to practice the Beatitudes and to open your eyes to how He has blessed you and to give you the opportunity to thank God by reaching out to those who are suffering.”
He wants to see if you will just sit back and be complacent or will you do as Jesus did and speak out against injustice, fight poverty, work for equality for all people, seek out peaceful means of settling disputes.
Yes we have to remain diligent, be awake to what is going on around us and respond in a Christ like way. We need to give God some private time each day, morning and evening, where we examine how we went about the day and where we need to improve ourselves.
We need to be mindful of the blessings we have been given by God. We must take time daily to thank God for bringing us through the day.
Every Day we need to be preparing ourselves for the day when we will meet Christ with our souls dressed not in filthy clothing but in our finest raiment.
Let us begin the season of Advent and preparing to celebrate the gift of Christ’s birth by seriously evaluating well we are preparing to meet God and our final judgment and make whatever adjustments are necessary to life in accord with the teaching Christ gave us.
Let our gift to Christ be a more perfect self this Christmas. AMEN