Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT - 30.11.03 Jer 33,14-16; 1 Thess 3,12-4,2 Advent 2004: Message & Mind-set The
Season of Advent
Is a time of grace, with a logic of joyful expectation. It asks us to watch out
and await, anticipate & prepare prayerfully for the Redeemer’s coming in
our life Today, as at the time of Jesus’ birth, when ‘there was no room
for him at the inn’, we are all caught in the midst of a hectic life, where
nobody has time for the Lord. At Advent we prepare mind & heart to adore the
mystery of God who becomes a child for us. The Images we get from today’s Liturgy invite us to focus on ideas
like: who is this ‘Son of Man’, this ‘Lord-our-integrity? - what does it
mean to stand erect & stay awake? - why the life God expects of us requires that we never cheat or deceive
anyone? Sadly, we live in a world of compromises and half-truths; worse still,
in a society where terrorism, intrigue and hidden motives, make us feel at risk.
Constantly the word of God challenge us to be convinced, committed &
pro-active in bringing integrity to every aspect of life. Advent is the opposite of an idle, passive waiting for the inevitable to
come about; in the sense of “che sara’ sara’ = whatever will be will
be”... Advent gets its real meaning from ‘Ad-vent-ure’ and it means
‘going forward to meet Someone Special’: it’s like being at the airport,
awaiting with eager longing for the moment when our Dear One will appear and we
will be lost in one another’s embrace. The feeling of awaiting fills us with
joyful -and perhaps fearful!- expectations, lest something goes dreadfully
wrong. Be
prayerful & pro-active. Advent is the special time when we prepare to welcome & be welcomed
by, the Lord. It reminds us that the same Lord who came in mercy 2000 years ago,
is still encountering us -in Word & Sacrament- and in the many occasions of
life. W also know, that we encounter the Lord at the end of our life & of
time, when he comes in glory as awesome judge of all nations. We are
warned to do well what we need to do, lest we are caught unawares... The colour
of Advent is purple: altar cloths - candles - vestments & decorations are
dominated by purple, a colour inviting us to sober pondering on how to live a
meaningful life & work hard at it, since there is no place for idle waiting
in Christian life! The Advent Wreath has the same connotation: be alert, get a
move-on & work hard for the good of others. Advent
includes a strong determination to pray & work hard, knowing that the
time is short -even 100 years are like yesterday come & gone! - Since life
is short & unpredictable, let’s continue to work hard for the welfare of
others (‘whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers you do it to me’)
and in turn this work will keep us ready to welcome (& be welcomed by) our
loving Lord, who will say: ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the
Kingdom’. Beautifully, an ancient Greek Writer, Gregory Palamas, said: ‘As
there is a harvest for inanimate sheaves, so for the rational wheat which is the
human race, there is a harvest that cuts people away from unbelief and gathers
into faith those who welcome the Good News. The reapers of this harvest are the
Lord’s apostles & the teachers of the Church. Of them the Lord says:
‘the reaper receives his wages & gathers a crop for eternal life’, for
those who do good to others in piety, will in their turn receive their
recompense. But there is yet another harvest: the transfer of each of us into
the life-to-come. Here the reapers are the Angels, who after the harvesting will
sort out & separate the good from bad, like wheat from darnel. As for us,
who now are separated from the ungodly, may we be found separated from the
darnel & united to those who are saved in Christ the Lord. ______________________________________ |
