Perhaps your fridge is stuffed with Thanksgiving leftovers and your home is decorated with signs of Christmas, but the readings made no mention of either holiday. Instead, they carried on the message we heard in recent weeks: “The days are coming says the Lord when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.” Years later that promise was fulfilled in Jesus who now cautions us, “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”
This week begins a new season. The green of ordinary time has been replaced by the purple of Advent, a time for us to prepare for the coming of the Lord; not just his birth, for that is history, but also his return. Maybe we will be among the witnesses that will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
In the earliest days of the Church, many hoped to witness such a majestic sight. Paul anticipated that resplendent coming, so he urged his followers to conduct themselves in a manner pleasing to God, abounding in love for one another. Here we are 21 centuries later and Jesus’ return has yet to happen. Dare we become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness or the anxieties of daily life? Not at all. Think of Jesus as the teacher who has left the classroom expecting us to do our tasks in his absence. Now is the time for us to be alert and ready for we don’t know when Jesus, our teacher, will return.
At the start of this century, Neil deGrasse Tyson, a well known astrophysicist, wrote, “If the events that span the 15 billion year timeline of the universe were laid along the length of a football field, then all of human history would span the thickness of a blade of grass in the end zone.”
God has certainly been around awhile! Being infinite, God is timeless and thus may be in no hurry to return in the manner foretold by Jesus in the gospel. Yet, both Paul and Luke urged Christians to live with an eye toward the future. While we likely will not see the end of time so graphically described in scripture we will someday all take our last breath.
Just as the clock runs out during a football game, our earthly life will someday end and our time will be up to heed the Gospel message of Jesus that we have been listening to all along. There will be no overtime, no second chances. Our lives will be transformed. Until then, we are urged to heed the advice we just heard, “Be vigilant…and pray” so that when we find ourselves standing before the Lord, he will tell us, “…stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”
How breathtaking that moment will be. The Jesus we received often in the Eucharist. The Jesus we professed to believe whenever we said the creed. The Jesus we called upon countless times amidst the anxieties of daily living. The Jesus sent by his Father to extend mercy and forgiveness. The Jesus who will say, “welcome to your eternal home.”
Until that moment comes, may our constant prayer amid the many tribulations we deal with daily be like what we heard moments ago, “To you O Lord, I lift my soul.” That promise reflects our commitment to God in gratitude for all that we have been blessed with. In this season, are we willing to engage more time with God in prayer and worship?
When the pandemic disrupted our lives, we were dispensed from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass to safeguard our health. As society became more lax about social distancing, we now see stadiums filled with fans. Now is the time to fill our churches. The Archbishop is urging us to do just that as we prepare for Christmas. Beginning on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, we are again being obligated to attend Mass just as we were before the pandemic.
The Mass is our primary mode of prayer as Catholics, coming together to hear God’s word and to partake of the Eucharist, an opportunity for the Lord to make us abound in love. Prayer prompts us to act in ways that are pleasing to God. Be vigilant, Jesus tells us, with acts of love, justice and compassion.
Advent is a season of waiting and hope. We hope for a better world. We hope for an end to the pandemic. We hope for an end to hunger, civil unrest, hostilities, and injustice, but for that to happen, we must fuel ourselves with God’s grace to make a difference. Hope leads us to see that everything in our lives can make a difference because God created us to make a difference in bringing about his kingdom. God loves us deeply and hopefully that divine love motivates us to go forth and make a difference by making this world a better place before our time is up.