Sunday Reflection – First Sunday of Advent (Year B)
First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7
You, LORD, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever. Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you, while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for, such as they had not heard of from of old. No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him. Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean people, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; for you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt. Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Brothers and sisters:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Mark 13:33-37
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own 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. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”
May Tam
A Time to Think
It is all too often that we are more reminded of the coming of Christmas by commercial decorations and shopping sprees than by the start of the Church’s new liturgical year. No wonder then the season of Advent always begins with the message of wakefulness. The “staying awake” motif is also found in both the Gospels of Matthew (24:36-51; 25:1-13) and Luke (12:35-48; 21:34-35). It reminds us of the necessity to be alert and watchful but, to be alert and watchful of what?
For the early Christians, they would have understood these sayings of Jesus. Living in adversities and hardships, they were in eager anticipation of the return of the risen Christ who will bring them peace and justice (cf 1 & 2 Thessalonians). How about us? (After two thousand years of waiting) Except when there is a worldwide crisis or calamity and perhaps for some doomsayers, most of us certainly do not feel the tension of our Lord’s coming like the early Christians. “Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead” becomes our lip service as we profess our faith on every Sunday.
This is exactly why Jesus repeatedly urges us to be vigilant and stay awake. The kind of wakefulness that Jesus warns us and what we need is not from without but from within. It is a constant effort to be prepared at all times but not to be instilled with fear nor unhealthily preoccupied with it. It is a habit, a practice that we should cultivate in order that we are always united with Christ. It is a way of living, to love Him through deeds, prayers and supplications. It is a state of being to be mindful of what is unfolding around us at present and hence be able to reflect upon its meaning. Without this space ready in our consciousness, we are all too easy to elapse into “religious laziness”. Our everyday “busyness” and mundane activities may soon consume us, like those people in the days of Noah (Matthew 24: 37-39) and eventually we may lose sight of our spiritual realities, our ultimate goal and finally our faith.
If the first generation of Christians were urged to be on guard, all the more urgent for us now! So let us respond to the call of Advent by keeping vigil and be patient in waiting, but at the same time, look forward to our Lord’s coming either in flesh (Christmas) or in His glory (Parousia). “And what I say to you (people in Jesus’ time) I say to all (future generations---including us now): Keep awake.” (Mark 13:37)
Fr. Anthony Ho
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