HOMILY ON THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR C
(Jer.33:14:16, Ps.24, 1Thess. 3:12-4:2 & Lk 21:25-28,34-36)
A CALL TO STAY AWAKE
As the Church concludes the Liturgical Year last Sunday with the Solemnity of Christ the King, we begin the New Liturgical year today with the First Sunday of Advent. Advent means ‘Coming’. The season of Advent therefore, means the Season of waiting in hope for the fulfilment of the promise which God made long ago to the House of Israel and the House of Judah about the coming of the Messiah as our today’s First Reading from the prophet Jeremiah, (Jer. 33:14) foretells.
In fact, the ancient Jews were the first set of people to observe the Advent period when they waited for the coming of the promised Saviour. They spent many years waiting in hope. But when finally the Messiah came in the person of Jesus, unfortunately many of them did not recognize him as the long expected Messiah. As St John attests, ‘Jesus came to his own but his own people did not accept him but to all those who did receive him and who believed in his name, he gave the power to become children of God’. (Jn 1:11-12).
So in preparation for the celebration of Christmas each year, the Church re-enacts the Season of Advent to enable us re-live the period of waiting in hope and getting our hearts ready for the commemoration of the Messiah’s first coming in history as well as to offers us opportunity to prepare for His Second Coming.
Many ancient prophets had foretold that the Lord’s day would really be a terrible day. “Behold the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it” (Isaiah 13:9-13; Joel 2:1-2; Amos 5:18-20; Zephaniah 1:14-18).
On this First Sunday of Advent, Jesus predicts the end-times and his Second Coming. The end-time would be quite terrific and devastating in the lives of those unprepared. For Jesus, all those who remain in sinfulness and are caught up in the life of debauchery, selfishness, licentiousness, deceit etc, will all have reasons to fear when that day comes.
Jesus warns his disciples that they will not know in advance when that dreadful day will be. Our only task is to live our lives always in readiness for that final day. What can prevent us from being prepared and so meet the Lord’s day in the state of horror and alarm? It is certainly, the attitude of Indifference and Passivity caused by Spiritual Laxity. It is very easy for one to get caught up in the affairs of this world and so remains spiritually indifferent and passive.
Therefore, the watch word for us in this Advent season as Jesus warns in today’s Gospel reading is to STAY AWAKE. In the year 1927 Charles Lindberg from Detroit, Michigan in America became famous for making the first solo trans-Atlantic air flight at the age of 25. He flew across the Atlantic Ocean non-stop, from New York to Paris in 33 hours and 30 minutes. To get himself ready for this ordeal, Charles often refused to go to bed. When asked why he restricts his night sleep, he replied, “Just practicing to STAY AWAKE all night.” This is exactly the spiritual attitude that Jesus would want us to develop in this Advent season.
What is to STAY AWAKE? How does one stay awake, and what does one do while staying awake? In our context staying awake does not literally mean that we should just remain sleepless and no longer go to bed any more like Charles Lindberg. No! Rather, to Stay awake here, is a clarion call for all of us to sit up and to be spiritually alert and fervent with regular and quality prayer life while occupying ourselves with some beneficial activities rather than misconducts and anti-social behaviours, so that we may stand in confidence to meet the Lord that day when he comes in glory.
It is mostly when we are awake and in the state of spiritual alertness, that we can easily overcome the devil’s intrigue, make good and positive choices and decisions in life and engage ourselves in some beneficial activities. Such as, regular prayer life, going to Mass, offering comfort to someone unhappy, standing up for someone who is being treated unfairly, reconciling and forgiving someone we bear grudge with, etc.
John Powell SJ, once wrote “There is an old Christian tradition that, God sends each person into this world with a special message to deliver, a special song to sing for others, a special act of love to bestow.” You can keep faith with your own God-given special message, song and act of love, only when you ‘Stay awake’. The Lord really wants each and EVERYONE of us to live his/her life in such a spiritual alertness that we will have no fear of an adverse judgement at the end of time. Therefore, Advent season is a time when Jesus calls us anew. It is a time of a new beginning. A time of repentance, renewal and conversion and a time for all to stay awake.
Always give the Lord Jesus, the first place in your life and allow His teaching and values to determine and colour your daily life, decisions and choices.
Reflection by
Fr Damian Ikemefuna Ozokwere cssp