🙏 SUNDAY INSIGHTS - THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT 🙏

First Reading - Isaiah 2:1-5

Second Reading - Romans 13:11-14

Gospel - Matthew 24:37-44

One Sunday after Church, a mother was talking to her young daughter. She told her daughter that, according to the Bible, Jesus will return to earth someday. “When is he coming back?” the daughter asked. “I don’t know,” replied the mother. “Can’t you look it up on the Internet?” the little girl asked.

Today we begin our yearly pilgrimage through the events of history of salvation starting with our preparation for the birthday celebration of Jesus and ending with our reflection on his glorious “second coming” as judge at the end of the world. We are entering the Advent season. Advent means coming. We are invited to meditate on Jesus’ first coming in history as a baby in Bethlehem, his daily coming into our lives in mystery through the Sacraments, through the Bible, and through the worshipping community, and finally his Second Coming (Parousia) at the end of the world to reward the just and to punish the wicked. We see the traditional signs of Advent in our Church: violet vestments and hangings, dried flowers or plain green plants and the Advent wreath. These signs remind us that we must prepare for the rebirth of Jesus in our hearts and lives, enabling him to radiate his love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness through and all around us.

Isaiah reports his prophetic vision of all nations gathering on Mount Zion, as described also by Micah (4:1-3), using the image of pilgrimage. The prophet looks forward to the time when the Covenant between God and His people will be extended to all people, and the Temple in Jerusalem will be the worshipping place for all mankind, so that all may live in peace and harmony with God and their fellow-humans. In the late eighth century BC, God’s people were already divided into a northern kingdom called Israel, and a southern kingdom known as Judah. Israel had fallen under Assyrian rule, while Judah and its capital Jerusalem were in danger of being conquered by Babylon. In the vision of Isaiah, however, Judah is shown as the place to which all nations will come for “instructions in righteous living.” (Zion in Jerusalem was the holy mountain where Solomon’s Temple had stood). The result will be universal peace. The Lord will mediate all disputes among nations, and “they shall beat their swords into plowshares.” The prophet reveals to his audience the radical notion that God might love other nations in addition to Judah! The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 122) is one of the joyous hymns originally meant to be sung as pilgrims journeyed to Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, the dwelling place of God on earth. As we sing the Psalm today, it invites us to look longingly toward Christmas, the feast that celebrates the Incarnation of God among us.

In the second reading, Paul’s exhortation to the Roman Christians shows them, and us, how to bring about Isaiah’s vision of peace. Because of its concentration on the Parousia,or the Second Coming of Jesus, the Christian community was neglecting its actual day-to-day duties. The Jewish Christians among them lived according to the Law of Moses, a moral code which even pagans admired. But the Gentile Christians were not yet fully free from the “orgies, drunkenness, promiscuity and lust” of their pagan days. Hence, Paul advises them: “Conduct yourselves properly.” He warns them against “orgies and drunkenness…promiscuity and lust.” He condemns their “rivalry and jealousy” and advises them to get ready to meet Jesus at his Second Coming. Paul believes that Jesus’ Second Coming will be a day of salvation only for those who are already acting in a proper manner. We, too, must act as pilgrims, entering wholeheartedly into our yearly pilgrimage through salvation history, leaving behind whatever might hinder our progress, and accepting whatever hardships our journey might entail.

Matthew’s audience was mostly made up of Jewish converts to Christianity. These Christians were ridiculed and ostracized by their Jewish friends who had not accepted Christ as the Messiah, and they wondered why some Jews were selected to become Christians and others not. To clear their doubts, Matthew quotes Jesus in today’s Gospel, suggesting the apparently arbitrary nature of the election on the last day. Just as at the time of the Deluge, Noah and his small family were spared while others perished, so shall it be at “the end.” The emphasis on the unpredictability of election may have helped Matthew’s Jewish Christian audience to deal with the fact that many of their fellow-Christians were recently despised Gentiles. This apocalyptic section of Matthew’s Gospel begins with Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the Temple, and goes on to Christ’s Second Coming, and the signs preceding both. Jesus answers the disciples by giving them signs of the end of the age (24:3-8), foretelling persecutions (24:9-14), and recalling the sacrilege prophesied by Daniel (24:15-28). Jesus also tells the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree (24:32-35), in which he warns his disciples to be alert and prepared.

The consistent warning in today’s Gospel text is that we should be prepared for the coming of the Master. Our text indicates that the end will seem to be a peaceful and normal time, with people eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and working in their homes or businesses. In this routine normal life, it might be easy to forget the “coming of the Son of Man.” In a reference to the story of Noah, Jesus says that the sin of the people was placing too much emphasis on the normal cares and necessities of life. They were too concerned with eating and drinking – just as we are during the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holidays. Jesus reminds us that there is something more important than feasts or weddings: the Son of Man will come to us unexpectedly, either at our death or at the end of the world, and that could be at any moment. Since God will show up without an appointment, we must be prepared at all times.

Dear friends, we are so future-oriented that we frequently forget the present entirely. We spend too much time trying to protect ourselves against future misfortunes. We save for a rainy day, to get married, to buy a home, to send the children to college, to retire in comfort, and to protect ourselves against future misfortunes with varieties of insurance. But we need to be more spiritually wakeful to prepare for our eternal life. Let us make this Advent season the time of such preparation.

We need to be alert and watchful while spiritually preparing for Christmas i) by beginning each day by praying for the strength and power of the Holy Spirit to prepare ourselves for Jesus’ rebirth in our lives; ii) by offering our daily work to God for His glory; iii) by practicing more self-control in resisting our evil habits and inclinations; iv) by seeking reconciliation daily with God, our families and our neighbors; v) and by asking God’s pardon and forgiveness as we extend our unconditional forgiveness to those who have hurt us and vi) by trying to see the face of Jesus in everyone we meet today and sharing with them Jesus’ sacrificial love, mercy, forgiveness, and selfless service.