FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT Cycle “B”
Mark 13, 33 - 37.
The song writer, Rod McKuen sets the theme for to-day’s Gospel: “We’ve all grown older. Come and see where we have been, out here rusting in the rain.” This fresh Advent I am reminded more vividly than I would like that I do not know “when the Master of the house is coming.” One morning, a colour photo ap-peared in the newspaper. It was of a young man dead of a drug overdose, slumped in his beautiful car, a sleek convertible. The car was parked in front of a parking meter that read: ‘TIME EXPIRED.’ As it was for him, so, too, is my clock winding down. So, too, is yours. “What I say to you, I say to all: stay awake.” Staying awake signifies the alertness of love by which we wait for the God who is lying in wait for us in what G. K. Chesterton called, “the starry pinnacle of the commonplace.” Not high on the mountain, but God waits for us in the commonplace. There should be nothing so exciting as being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Advent is the season when we Christians preside over the re-invention of ourselves. We strive to climb out of our deepest problems by re-imagining our Christian lives. It should be the beginning of the end in us of all that is not Christ.
If we are not vigilant for God’s coming in glory, we start wandering around, sampling one little sensation after another. Our lives get stuffed with newspaper items, television stories, and gossip. Our minds lose the discipline of discerning what leads us closer to God and what doesn’t, and our hearts lose their spiri-tual sensitivity. Getting soft on our vigilance, we stag-nate in our boredom, looking for moments of passing pleasure. When St. Paul asks us to wake from sleep he says, “Let us live decently, as in the light of day; with no orgies and drunkenness, or promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop thinking about how to satisfy your disordered natural inclinations” (Rom 13,13-14).
Christ’s return defines the Church. The Church exists to prepare for his return. As each year passes, the Lord’s return grows more imminent, and his call to the Church to be ready grows more insistent. The Church wisely gives us these next four weeks to let us know that Jesus is not enchanted with us as we are. Even a careless self-examination tells us that we are much less happy with our honourable selves, or should I say dishonourable selves? We have been fearful to actualise our potentialities. The psycholo-gists tell us that we don’t make use of even 5% of our potential. Change and growth frightens everyone. Were a scientist to warn us that an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale was fast ap-proaching, we would scramble for every precaution imaginable. Unhappily, the Master’s prediction that he will return does not make us smart enough to ef-fect even accidental changes in our lives.
Yesterday is a memory, and tomorrow a dream. We have no right to take tomorrow for granted. That is why we have to interpret the signs of the times, mak-ing everyday that remains to us count. You can push people around; you can’t push time around. You can only live it once, you can regret it many times.
In his encyclical letter, “The Mystery of the Incarna-tion”, in no. 11, Pope John Paul has calls for an ex-amination of conscience. I quote him here exactly: “Examination of conscience is one of the most deci-sive moments of life. It places each individual before the truth of his own life. Thus he discovers the dis-tance which separates his deeds from the ideal which he had set himself” (Incarnationis Mysterium, no. 11). To put ourselves on the spot that way is quite costly. To feel the friction of God’s word against our lifestyle calls for a good deal of generosity. If we really listen to our hearts in the midst of this Advent-winter experience we will hear the God of love calling us from the self-deception of worshipping gods of our own making. The miracle we then discover, in our own personal way, is that only the God of love saves, not our illusions. Let us nurture our desire to discern God’s call in our life.
A story comes to us from the monks of the desert that we might want to make our own this Advent. A monk went to his Abbot and asked, “Fr. Abbot, what has God’s wisdom taught you? Did you become divine?” “Not at all”, answered the Abbot. “Did you become a saint?” “No, as you can clearly see,” said the Abbot. “What then, O Abbot?”
The Abbot answered, “I became awake.” The Abbot may have been reading today’s Gospel: “Be on your guard. Stay awake.”
As we begin to get our Bank accounts in shape for our Christmas gift list, here are some suggestions that will not bankrupt any of us.
Prepare a meal for a shut-in.
Become a volunteer for some relief work.
Help a friend with a project he or she is working on.
Offer comfort for someone unhappy.
Stand up for someone being treated unfairly.
Reconcile with someone you have quarrelled with.
Clean out your closet and donate to a jumble sale.
Call or write a person you have not been in contact with for a long time.
Wish people you meet a good day
and help make it so !
PRAYER (Frank Colquboun):
Our heavenly Father, as once again we prepare for Christmas, help us find time in our busy lives for quiet thought and prayer; that we may reflect upon the wonder of your love and allow the story of the Saviour’s birth to penetrate our hearts and minds. So may our joy be deeper, our worship more real, and our lives worthier of all that you have done for us through the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Mark 13, 33 - 37.
The song writer, Rod McKuen sets the theme for to-day’s Gospel: “We’ve all grown older. Come and see where we have been, out here rusting in the rain.” This fresh Advent I am reminded more vividly than I would like that I do not know “when the Master of the house is coming.” One morning, a colour photo ap-peared in the newspaper. It was of a young man dead of a drug overdose, slumped in his beautiful car, a sleek convertible. The car was parked in front of a parking meter that read: ‘TIME EXPIRED.’ As it was for him, so, too, is my clock winding down. So, too, is yours. “What I say to you, I say to all: stay awake.” Staying awake signifies the alertness of love by which we wait for the God who is lying in wait for us in what G. K. Chesterton called, “the starry pinnacle of the commonplace.” Not high on the mountain, but God waits for us in the commonplace. There should be nothing so exciting as being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Advent is the season when we Christians preside over the re-invention of ourselves. We strive to climb out of our deepest problems by re-imagining our Christian lives. It should be the beginning of the end in us of all that is not Christ.
If we are not vigilant for God’s coming in glory, we start wandering around, sampling one little sensation after another. Our lives get stuffed with newspaper items, television stories, and gossip. Our minds lose the discipline of discerning what leads us closer to God and what doesn’t, and our hearts lose their spiri-tual sensitivity. Getting soft on our vigilance, we stag-nate in our boredom, looking for moments of passing pleasure. When St. Paul asks us to wake from sleep he says, “Let us live decently, as in the light of day; with no orgies and drunkenness, or promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop thinking about how to satisfy your disordered natural inclinations” (Rom 13,13-14).
Christ’s return defines the Church. The Church exists to prepare for his return. As each year passes, the Lord’s return grows more imminent, and his call to the Church to be ready grows more insistent. The Church wisely gives us these next four weeks to let us know that Jesus is not enchanted with us as we are. Even a careless self-examination tells us that we are much less happy with our honourable selves, or should I say dishonourable selves? We have been fearful to actualise our potentialities. The psycholo-gists tell us that we don’t make use of even 5% of our potential. Change and growth frightens everyone. Were a scientist to warn us that an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale was fast ap-proaching, we would scramble for every precaution imaginable. Unhappily, the Master’s prediction that he will return does not make us smart enough to ef-fect even accidental changes in our lives.
Yesterday is a memory, and tomorrow a dream. We have no right to take tomorrow for granted. That is why we have to interpret the signs of the times, mak-ing everyday that remains to us count. You can push people around; you can’t push time around. You can only live it once, you can regret it many times.
In his encyclical letter, “The Mystery of the Incarna-tion”, in no. 11, Pope John Paul has calls for an ex-amination of conscience. I quote him here exactly: “Examination of conscience is one of the most deci-sive moments of life. It places each individual before the truth of his own life. Thus he discovers the dis-tance which separates his deeds from the ideal which he had set himself” (Incarnationis Mysterium, no. 11). To put ourselves on the spot that way is quite costly. To feel the friction of God’s word against our lifestyle calls for a good deal of generosity. If we really listen to our hearts in the midst of this Advent-winter experience we will hear the God of love calling us from the self-deception of worshipping gods of our own making. The miracle we then discover, in our own personal way, is that only the God of love saves, not our illusions. Let us nurture our desire to discern God’s call in our life.
A story comes to us from the monks of the desert that we might want to make our own this Advent. A monk went to his Abbot and asked, “Fr. Abbot, what has God’s wisdom taught you? Did you become divine?” “Not at all”, answered the Abbot. “Did you become a saint?” “No, as you can clearly see,” said the Abbot. “What then, O Abbot?”
The Abbot answered, “I became awake.” The Abbot may have been reading today’s Gospel: “Be on your guard. Stay awake.”
As we begin to get our Bank accounts in shape for our Christmas gift list, here are some suggestions that will not bankrupt any of us.
Prepare a meal for a shut-in.
Become a volunteer for some relief work.
Help a friend with a project he or she is working on.
Offer comfort for someone unhappy.
Stand up for someone being treated unfairly.
Reconcile with someone you have quarrelled with.
Clean out your closet and donate to a jumble sale.
Call or write a person you have not been in contact with for a long time.
Wish people you meet a good day
and help make it so !
PRAYER (Frank Colquboun):
Our heavenly Father, as once again we prepare for Christmas, help us find time in our busy lives for quiet thought and prayer; that we may reflect upon the wonder of your love and allow the story of the Saviour’s birth to penetrate our hearts and minds. So may our joy be deeper, our worship more real, and our lives worthier of all that you have done for us through the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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