Homily First Sunday of Advent Year B

 

Reading 1: The reading begins with acknowledging God as Our Father and Redeemer.  It ends with once more with recognizing God as Father and Creator. We are the work of his hands. Then Isaiah admits our need for a redeemer. We have sinned and wandered far from the Lord. Our hearts are hardened like polluted rags. He cries for God to rend the heavens and come down to save us.  Bring about awesome deeds once more.

 

As we begin this Advent season, we are reminded that even though Jesus has come and saved us, we still sin and stray from the Lord. Even though God took on our flesh, we still stray from him. As he came before, we are asking Jesus to come in a fresh new way, so that our hearts can turn more fully to him.

 

What is the condition that the prophet indicates on our part? Would that he might meet us doing right; that we were mindful of him in all our ways. Our preparation for the celebration of Christmas during the next twenty-seven days is not only to acknowledge Jesus’ first coming into the world, not only to be aware of his promise to come again at the end of time, but to be expectant and attentive to his coming in the present moment.  He came to save, now he comes to unite us more intimately with himself in love. But if our hearts are full of unnecessary distractions, unrepentant sin, then how can he find a place for himself in us?

 

Gospel: Advent is a time to be watchful and alert, not in fear but in expectant hope. The Lord desires to come in a fresh new way into our heart to keep his life in us renewed.  Will he find us open and expectant? Sometimes we live our lives in a state of disarray, our hearts in shambles, cluttered by distracting habits.

 

 It is like a college student, who parties with friends and whose apartment is in shambles with trash, dirty dishes, etc. Would he want his parents to come unexpectedly and see all of this? Not really. Yet, we are at times spiritually living in the midst of accumulated trash. What would Jesus find if he comes unexpectedly? 

 

On the other hand, if the college student kept his apartment clean and uncluttered, it won’t matter when his parents came. Advent is a time to do some fall cleaning in our lives.

 

We heard last Sunday what we did to the least we did to Jesus. He comes and came in his word which we hear in every Mass. He comes in the Eucharist. He comes with his grace at different moments of our lives to sustain and renew us. He comes in the silence of our hearts as we spend time in prayer.

 

How we recognize and respond to his present coming will determine how will we respond to his ultimate coming. As we are watchful and responsive in the present moment to his coming in a variety of ways, we will be alert and ready when he comes in glory either at the moment of our death or at the end of time. If children are excited in anticipation of Santa Clause with his gifts, should we not be excited in anticipation of Jesus with his gift of eternal life and glory. Watch and be alert.

 

Reading 2: Why does the Church choose this reading as we begin a new season of grace? We are being reminded of the many blessings we have received. Because we have fellowship with Jesus we have been enriched with all the spiritual gifts we need. God has given us grace upon grace so that we may be found worthy when he comes.  Advent is that time to renew our awareness of the journey we are on—a journey to the Lord. It is time once more to put first things first. It is a time to be attentive to the various ways Jesus is coming in the present moment, so that we will not miss the grace of his final coming in our lives.

 

How? By being attentive to the word of God, to avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, uncluttering our lives of sin, of being attentive to the times we can exercise the spiritual and corporeal works of mercy. 

“Remember the past with gratitude. Live the present with Enthusiasm. Look forward to the future with confidence.”- St. John Paul II

A simple admonition from a saint, but maybe hard to live by the sinners we are. We may find ourselves saying: We remember the past with regret. We live the present with fear. We face the future with anxiety. And we wonder why we have such a negative attitude about life? This is not what inspired the saints like St. Paul who said: “And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:15-17)

 

This is how we can “remember the past with gratitude; live the present with enthusiasm; look forward to the future with confidence.” Thanks be to God! 

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT: GOSPEL YEAR B

Jesus said to his disciples “Be watchful! Be alert! 

During Jesus’ time a Roman soldier could face execution if he fell asleep during guard duty and allowed the enemy to penetrate the camp.

·How watchful are we against the spiritual enemy who wants to draw us away from God?

You do not know when the time will come. 

·There are two words in Greek for time: “Kairos” and “Chronos.”  The first conveys that that moment is a crucial, decisive moment in a person’s life. The second is the ordinary way we understand time, as another moment in life.

·That “Kairos” moment is the time of our death and judgment before God.

It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. 

·These are the four Roman watches of the night:  Evening watch (6:00 - 9:00 p.m.); midnight watch (9:00 - midnight); cockcrow watch (midnight - 3:00 a.m.); and dawn watch (3:00 - 6:00 a.m.).  Note that they are all nighttime watches.

May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'" 

· What does it mean to you to be watchful, stay awake?

· Jesus reminds us that he will come again. What effect does this realization have on the way you live?

· What changes should be made in your life in order to respond attentively to the message of Jesus in today’s Gospel?

· It may be good to develop the habit of praying daily  “Come, Lord Jesus, Come!”  as a way of reminding yourself of the Gospel message:

·    As we begin this Advent season, what are we watching for? Is it not the coming of Jesus in the present moment of our lives? How attentive are we to the comings of Jesus throughout our day, week, month? If we are watchful in the present moment, what will be different when he comes in that final kairos moment of our life on earth?

 

 

"To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us -- and He has given us everything.  Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.  Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God.  For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience.  And that is what makes all the difference." (From "Thoughts In Solitude" by Thomas Merton)

 

True gratitude is not only being aware of the blessings we have received from God, but expressing our thanks to God in some external way.  What are you most grateful to God for?  For me it Is a share in his own divine life.  Yes, I am grateful for being created in his own image and likeness. But it is the new creation that excites me. My physical life will come to an end but my life in God will continue through all eternity. And the best way I can show my gratitude to God for this amazing gift is to remain in him every day, free from serious sin. Even this can be done only with his grace. 

“The proper order is first to render thanks to God, then to confess our sinfulness, and repent of it, then to submit our petition.” (St. Jerome)

This week we will celebrate Thanksgiving Day. But every day should be one of gratitude from our heart.  Most of us spend more time in asking God for our needs and the needs of others than we do in praising and thanking God for his many blessings. Recall the ten lepers who came to Jesus, seeking healing. When they were healed, only one came back to offer thanks. Because of this, he is further rewarded. He was given something he didn’t ask for, salvation.

 

A grateful heart is opened to greater blessings. A heart that focuses mainly on self, closes in on itself.  Spend more time in gratitude than on petition and see how your petitions are answered.

In the funeral liturgy one of the prayers that is said ends this way. "Merciful Lord, turn towards us and listen to our prayers: open the gates of paradise to your servant and help us who remain to comfort one another with assurances of faith, until we all meet in Christ and are with you and with our brother/sister for ever."

One of things we sometimes fail to remember at the death of a love ones is that they are still living. If they died in Christ, they are with Christ. If we die in Christ, we shall also be with Christ and with them. We shall see them once more, sharing in the life of Christ eternally. I believe that at death the first person we will see is God, waiting to welcome us into his presence. And there with God will be our loved ones, waiting to welcome us into the joys of eternity. What a party that will be! What stories that will be shared!

It is this aspect of our Christian faith that gives us hope and peace at the time of the death of loved ones. After we mourn our lost, we should cling to the hope of seeing each other again face to face.

 

“We are in movement along the path. When asked where we are heading, we say, ‘Towards heaven!’ ‘So what’s heaven?’ some ask. There we begin to be unsure in our response. We don’t know how best to explain heaven. Often we picture an abstract and distant heaven… And some think: ‘But won’t it be boring there for all eternity?’ No! That is not heaven. We are on the path towards an encounter: the final meeting with Jesus. Heaven is the encounter with Jesus.” (Pope Francis)

 

Have you ever thought of heaven as a final encounter with Jesus, who leads us to the Father and the Spirit? We have seen pictures of Jesus, but our encounter with him after death will be as different as between a one-dimensional flat picture and a three dimensional reality. Any encounter we had with Jesus in our human existence will not compare to the reality of seeing him face to face in the fullness of his glory. While our human encounters made a difference in our life, the encounter we will have in heaven will be the beginning of our eternity. That is why Paul says “eye has not seen and ear has not heard” what God has in store for those who love him. 

How I long for this encounter of encounters!