Cycle C - Year I:  

2 December 2018: First Sunday of Advent

(Liturgical Color: Violet)

Readings:

First Reading:        Jeremiah 33:14-16

Second Reading:   1 Thessalonians 3:12--4:2

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Come, Lord Jesus!

This Sunday begins a new journey of faith we call the Advent Season. It ushers in a new liturgical year for the Church. And so we greet each other a "Happy New Year!" in our Catholic faith.

Advent Season is a period of preparation, extending four Sundays before Christmas Day. The word "advent" comes from the Latin word "Advenire", which means "to come". That is why Advent is a season of hope and expectation, and we are invited to prepare joyfully for the coming of Jesus Christ.

We start our Advent preparation by remembering that we are a pilgrim people, not destined to be of this world but to be in it for a time in preparation for our eventual destination.

Now the Church wants us to meditate about Advent in three ways: First, is the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas, and this is the most obvious. Second, the coming of Christ in our lives through grace and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. And third, the return or second coming of our Lord at the end of time.

However, the Gospel passage for the First Sunday of Advent seems to be in contrast to the traditional understanding of Advent as preparation for Christ's coming, meaning the birth of our Lord. Because the Gospel passage  from St. Luke present the triumphal return of the Lord Jesus Christ in all His glory, power and might.

Well, there is really a common message in the first and second coming of Christ. When we look beyond the actual events, the powerful and timely counsel being imparted in either of these scenarios is actually one and the same. And that is "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap." These words means that preparedness for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ should be our proper disposition, whether we meditate upon the event involving His birth on Christmas day, or consider the return of Christ at the end of time.

That is why at the conclusion of the Gospel reading, our Lord Jesus warns us, "Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent...".

Often times we allowed ourselves to be focusing only on material preparation for Christmas, neglecting to prepare ourselves spiritually. While the material and spiritual preparations need not really be mutually exclusive, the spiritual preparation should always take precedence over the former. In that way we use Advent well in accordance with its purpose.

We can consider these useful suggestions on how to prepare ourselves during the Advent Season: first, undertaking voluntary penances for our failures and shortcomings, consonant with the purple liturgical color of Advent; second, dedicating a portion of what one might spend on gifts toward charitable causes as a way of mortifying the secular tendency to over indulge during Christmas season; finally, but not the last, we should dedicate ourselves to more prayers during this time, for example, meditating upon the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, reading the Gospel especially the infancy narratives on Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and praying together as a family around the Advent wreath in our homes. These are practical and all-time honored ways of preparing our hearts during the Advent Season to receive our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas day.

And in reality, our whole lives should be an ongoing and continuing preparation to meet our Savior and the King of kings in our journey of faith, when He returns in glory.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!