First Sunday of the Advent

The season of Advent is every year a season of hearing that call to renewal in expectation of the ever-new coming of Christ, our Messiah. This call to renewal can be traced back centuries ago when as today's first reading records the Prophet Jeremiah wrote: "The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he will do what is right and just in the land." What a wonderful "new year's resolution," the promise of the Lord himself for all time!

To really "hear" the call that the Lord's promise proposes is to hear the challenge with the ear of our hearts. In other words, the call to renewal is a call to be received in hearts as a call to love. That is why St. Paul's prayer in his letter to the Thessalonians is chosen for the second reading of today's Eucharistic celebration. What St. Paul reminds the Thessalonians and all of us is the very fundamental truth that love is the foundation of everything. To be prepared for the ever-new coming of the Christ is to be committed to grow in that love which Jesus himself recognized as the sign of discipleship: "By this will all know that you are my disciples by your love for one another!" [John 13:35] 

Perhaps a reading of today's Gospel passage might seem to be a bit frightening – what is called the "second coming" of the Christ at the end of time. And it is true that the Advent season does remind us of both the second coming (the word "advent" connotes "coming") and the first coming of the Christ at Christmas. But even as today's Gospel reading does "warn" us to be prepared for the time when the Lord will come again in glory it also urges that we be constantly alert, not only concerned about an unknown future day but vigorously concerned about living today, here and now.

Even as this Sunday is the beginning of a new liturgical year it can be helpful to recall that the previous liturgical year ended with the celebration of Pentecost, the great gift of the Holy Spirit. It is that gift which assures us that the God who loves us is with us always, even to the end of time. And as we may be reminded that we do have to be constantly alert for the day when we will be called to finally surrender our very lives, we are also reminded that the Lord whose coming we await is the Lord who has promised us that in the Father's home there are many "rooms" and that he prepares a place for us so that where he is we also may be. 

With all that in mind, we do joyfully celebrate two preparations that Advent can mean for us. Advent calls us to prepare to celebrate the coming of the Lord at Christmas to share our daily lives so intimately. Advent also calls us to be prepared for that coming of the Lord at the end of time and at the last day for each one of us when what Advent begins will be completed.

Take from Daily Homily