Advent 1 Sunday A: Stay Awake

Advent has a twofold character, for it is a time of preparation for the Solemnities of Christmas, in which the First Coming of the Son of God to humanity is remembered, and likewise a time when, by remembrance of this minds and hearts are led to look forward to Christ’s Second Coming at the end’ of time. For these two reasons, Advent is a period of devout and expectant delight.
Each Gospel reading has a distinctive theme:
First Sunday — the Lord’s coming at the end of time,
Second and Third — John the Baptist,
Fourth — the events immediately preparatory to the Lord’s birth.

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First Sunday of Advent

The liturgy for today directs our minds to the Last Day, to the Second Coming of Christ, to the Day of Judgement. We look at this not as individuals, but as a qreat gathering of all peoples. The suddenness of the coming of the Lord may make us a little afraid, but we should look forward in joy — rejoice when we hear them say ‘Let us go to God’s house’. St Paul tells us how to live in the meantime: be fully awake and cost off the works of darkness.

Gospel: Matthew 24:37-44 

 v

Michel de Verteuil
General comments
The passage comprises several teachings of Jesus, all on the general theme of waiting. However, each teaching forms a unit on its own, so begin by identifying which section you want to meditate on.

Textual comments

Verses 37 to 39 describe what happens ‘when the Son of Man comes’, the story of the Flood being the model. Make sure you get the precise point of the teaching. It is not that the people were bad or immoral – that is not the point Jesus is making. He is stressing only the suddenness and unexpectedness of the coming.
Verses 40 and 41 are another description of the coming but the point here is quite different: it is the indiscriminate way in which some are taken and some left. Be creative in interpreting the meaning of ‘taken’ and ‘left’, starting of course from your experience.
Verses 42 and 44 are two exhortations of Jesus; they are nearly identical although the metaphor in each is slightly different – ‘stay awake’ in vs. 42 and ‘stand ready’ in vs. 44. The stress is slightly different in each too, ‘you do not know’ in vs. 42 and ‘an hour you do not expect’ in vs. 44. In your meditation be faithful to the exact text.
Verse 43 is a parable which you should take on its own. Enter into the parable as it stands, in particular the metaphor of the burglar who breaks through the wall of the house. Your meditation will help you feel for this image of God’s unexpected coming.

Scripture Prayers
Lord, we remember a time in our lives when disaster struck:
– we lost what seemed a secure job;
– we were betrayed by a spouse or a friend;
– we fell again into an evil habit we thought we had finished with;
– there was a sudden death in the family.
We were like people in the days before the Flood
– eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands,
right up to the day when Noah went into the ark.
We too suspected nothing till this terrible flood came and swept all away.
We recognise now that it was a coming of the Son of Man,
a moment when you showed us how vulnerable we are,
but also when we felt your presence with us.
Lord, it is strange how life turns out.
We remember when we were starting on our careers,
with members of our family, our friends at school.
Today, years after, some of us have done well and others have not
– in marriage, at work, in health, in spiritual growth.
Much of it was chance.
How true it is that in life two men are working the fields,
one is taken and one left; of two women at the millstone grinding,
one is taken and the other is left.
Lord, into your hands we commend ourselves.

“There must be no passing of premature judgement. Leave that until the Lord comes. He will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of our hearts.”  … 1 Cor 4:5
Lord, forgive us, church people, that we usurp your authority,
presuming to pass judgement on who is fit to enter your kingdom,
as if we could look at two men working in the fields
and decide which will be taken and which one left,
or two women at the millstone grinding
and decide which will be taken and which one left.
Lord, things were going well in our church community.
We thought that we had everything under control.
Then one day trouble appeared again and the community was torn apart.
You had sent us Jesus to teach us that we must stay awake,
like a householder who knows that there are burglars
always hovering around and they can break through the wall of his house
at any moment.
“Nobody said that the search for a lasting peace, a peace that is based on justice,  would be easy, but that does not mean that we should not go on trying.”  … Bishop Fortich of the Philippines
Lord, we pray today for those who are striving for peace
in countries that are torn by war.
Let them work with hope,
like people who know that at some hour they do not expect
the Son of Man will come.
“The quest for truth is an everlasting process from which civilised people never graduate.”  …President Hassanali, Trinidad Divali, 1989
Lord, help us, in our search for truth, to stay awake,
never thinking that we are secure
because at any time we might find that our house has been broken into,
never despairing because you will show yourself at an hour we do not expect.
Lord, we thank you that when we were foolish, irresponsible or stubborn,
some people did not give up on us but stayed awake,
confident that we would return at an hour they did not expect.
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3. Thomas O’Loughlin,
Introduction

Sisters and brothers, today is the first day of the season of Advent. In four weeks’ time we will celebrate Christmas and the coming of the Son of God among us as our prophet, our priest, and our king. But to know who Jesus is, we must recall the faith of the people who looked out for him, we must look to the writings of the Old Testament to see what they say about the promise of God to visit his people — and during these coming weeks we will read much from the prophet Isaiah; we must recall those who prepared the way for his coming — and we will recall the work of John the Baptist; and we will reflect on how the Christ comes to birth in our world through our faith and discipleship — and we will remember Mary whose faith and acceptance of the invitation of God inaugurated the whole Christian era. Let us stop and in silence note that this moment is an important turning point in our year.

Homily notes
1. The time we are now entering is for most people ‘the run up to Christmas’. It is that for us too, but it also has a far more serious side. To say that ‘The Lord is coming’ or to pray ‘Come Lord Jesus’ (maranatha) is part of the most basic Christian confession of faith: we are a people who are looking forward, who believe we are on a journey, a pilgrimage, towards a destination. This destination is an encounter with the Lord, and it is variously described as ‘the Second Coming’, the time of ‘the return of the Son of Man’, when he ‘comes again to judge the living and the dead’, of ‘the Day of the Lord’. Indeed, we believe this journey toward the Day of the Lord is something that responds to a most basic instinct implanted within our humanity by the Creator: ‘You [0 God] have made us for yourself and our hearts are disquieted until they rest in You’ (St Augustine, Confessiones 1,1,1). And, it is the Christian confession that we encounter God in his Christ. So part of our reflection in Advent is on the end-times and our encounter with the Lord when he comes again. So, in short, we are a people looking forward to the Day of the Lord’s Second Coming. And this is the time of year when our cycle of ritual puts these thoughts, as in today’s gospel, before us.
2. To declare that we are waiting for when Christ ‘will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead’ (the creed), tells us nothing about the nature of the final judgment. 3. Since the first generation of Christians there has been a core belief that the time the people of Israel spent waiting for the coming of the promised Messiah is structurally similar to the time Christians spend waiting for the return of the Lord. Israel waiting for the first coming parallels the church waiting for the second coming. It is this logic of antetype and type that explains why we recall the waiting for the Christ in the first readings during Advent; while we then read about the Second Coming in the gospel readings in Advent. The common element between Israel and the church is that of waiting on the Christ to come; the difference is that Israel was waiting for the first coming, the church is waiting for the last coming. What Isaiah expected the Day of the Lord to be like is what we read in the first reading. ‘He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’
4. If we want to know what the judgement will be like at the Second Coming, we look to the message of the Christ in his first coming. Many then thought that the Day of the Lord would be the ‘great crunch’ — a warrior messiah that would dole out vengeance and wrath. Instead the Lord came as the re-builder of Israel, the one who brought healing, who called disciples to love God and neighbour, and established reconciliation with the Father. This is the nature of the judgement we now wait for and proclaim. With truth we can call this, amidst the panics and fears that are always said to be on the horizon of the future, the good news. The Day of the Lord is not the ‘great crunch’, but the day of peace: ‘He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’

Homily notes 1. The time we are now entering is for most people ‘the run up to Christmas’. It is that for us too, but it also has a far more serious side. To say that ‘The Lord is coming’ or to pray ‘Come Lord Jesus’ (maranatha) is part of the most basic Christian confession of faith: we are a people who are look­ing forward, who believe we are on a journey, a pilgrimage, towards a destination. This destination is an encounter with the Lord, and it is variously described as ‘the Second Coming’, the time of ‘the return of the Son of Man’, when he ‘comes again to judge the living and the dead’, of ‘the Day of the Lord’. Indeed, we believe this journey toward the Day of the Lord is something that responds to a most basic instinct implanted within our humanity by the Creator: ‘You [0 God] have made us for yourself and our hearts are disquieted until they rest in You’ (St Augustine, Confessiones 1,1,1). And, it is the Christian confession that we encounter God in his Christ. So part of our reflection in Advent is on the end-times and our encounter with the Lord when he comes again. So, in short, we are a people looking forward to the Day of the Lord’s Second Coming. And this is the time of year when our cycle of ritual puts these thoughts, as in today’s gospel, before us.

2. To declare that we are waiting for when Christ ‘will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead’ (the creed), tells us nothing about the nature of the final judgment.
3. Since the first generation of Christians there has been a core belief that the time the people of Israel spent waiting for the coming of the promised Messiah is structurally similar to the time Christians spend waiting for the return of the Lord. Israel waiting for the first coming parallels the church wait­ing for the second coming. It is this logic of antetype and type that explains why we recall the waiting for the Christ in the first readings during Advent; while we then read about the Second Coming in the gospel readings in Advent. The com­mon element between Israel and the church is that of waiting on the Christ to come; the difference is that Israel was wait­ing for the first coming, the church is waiting for the last coming. What Isaiah expected the Day of the Lord to be like is what we read in the first reading. ‘He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’
4. If we want to know what the judgement will be like at the Second Coming, we look to the message of the Christ in his first coming. Many then thought that the Day of the Lord would be the ‘great crunch’, a warrior messiah that would dole out vengeance and wrath. Instead the Lord came as the re-builder of Israel, the one who brought healing, who called disciples to love God and neighbour, and established recon­ciliation with the Father. This is the nature of the judgement we now wait for and proclaim. With truth we can call this, amidst the panics and fears that are always said to be on the horizon of the future, the good news. The Day of the Lord is not the ‘great crunch’, but the day of peace: ‘He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’
The secular sense of hope, which is most accurately expressed as wishful thinking, lacks surety or certainty. To be hopeful in the secular sense is to articulate a desire or a wish that may or may not be realised. For example, when we say, ‘We hope that our business will not become bankrupt’, our wish is for success in business but we cannot be certain that there will be success.
In sharp contrast, Christian hope is a virtue and it expresses certainty based on God’s promise to be faithful to us in all circumstances. For instance, when we say, ‘We hope in the resurrection of the dead’, we are not simply engaging in wishful thinking. We are articulating and communicating a certainty that is based on our faith.
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Donal Neary SJ
Light for the journey

In faith and in hope we begin Advent this week with its first candle. With Mary and Joseph we wait for Christ. The candles are lighting the way for them – and for us! The coming light of Jesus lights both our waiting and our journey in life. May it shine the light of Christ into the darknesses of the year since last Christmas – bereavement, illness, depression, disappointments?
We prepare best for Christmas by spreading this light. The way to celebrate Christmas is rooted in our following of the gospel. Among our ways are care for the poor, some daily prayer, and the wish to forgive and be forgiven.

All the different images of Christmas prepare us for this birth – the carols we hear and sing, the lights in the streets, the star over the church and the ways we pray with anticipation and remem­ber other Christmas days with joy.
Everything of this month can remind us of God. The Christ­mas trees, lights, cards, carols, parties, Santa hats, the houses lit up with reindeer and all the things we see about Christmas, all remind us that God is near.
We welcome this light in the spirit of Pope Francis: ‘Those who have opened their hearts to God’s love, heard his voice and re­ceived his light, cannot keep this gift to themselves. Since faith is hearing and seeing, it is also handed on as word and light’ (The Light of Faith, 37).
Remember some people or memories that make you grateful for Christmas. Thank God for these in your own world.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come into our world of gold and grey,
into the world, which needs you badly.

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From The Connections:

THE WORD:
Today’s Advent Gospel is a “wake up” call:

• Noah’s flood and the thief are signs that the Lord will return for those who have been faithfully waiting for his return.
• Although Matthew is writing his Gospel for a Christian community who expected Christ’s return during their lifetimes, this Gospel can also be read as Jesus teaching us about the reality of our own deaths and being ready at every moment we are given to meet the Lord.
• Jesus calls his Church and Christians of every place and time to be conscientious in the call to be prophets, confronting a “sleeping” world with the risks of losing its soul.

HOMILY POINTS:

These first days of Advent confront us with the reality that this life of ours is indeed limited, that the moments we are given in this experience of life are precious and few, that death is a reality that we all inevitably face.
Advent calls us to “stay awake” and not sleep through the opportunities life gives us to discover God and the things of God, to “watch,” to pay attention to the signs of God’s unmistakable presence in our lives.
Life is a constant Advent experience:  Our lives are Advents of waiting to be healed, waiting to make things better, waiting to complete and move on; the everyday Advents of our lives are filled with fear, doubt and struggle.  Our “Advents” our ultimately fulfilled in the coming of the Christ, who comes to dwell in our midst.

Here If You Need Me

Kate Braestrup is a chaplain with the Maine Warden Service, the men and women who conduct search-and-rescue missions in the deep woods and frozen ponds of northern Maine.  As chaplain, Kate has become an expert in waiting:  While wardens search, Kate holds families and friends of the lost together with warmhearted common sense and modest prayer whether the crisis ends well or ill.  She writes about her work and what brought her to it in her book Here If You Need Me.

There is always hope as the search begins, Kate writes.  As they wait for news, families comfort themselves with memories of the missing loved one.  They are compelled to tell Kate and the wardens what a beautiful, wonderful parent or child or friend they are searching for.  For the wardens, the lost becomes their parent and child and friend, as well.
Before long, families become desperate to do something.  They ache for some resolution.  They want — they think they want — the truth.  A father took Kate aside, away from his distraught wife, and demanded to know the truth about his missing daughter.  What that father wanted to hear, Kate remembers, was not an objective assessment of the situation:  “He wants me to tell him, with all the weight and authority my presence conveys, that his daughter is not dead.”
After some time, families accept the reality that time is not on their side.  Kate’s role then becomes one of speaking hope — realistic, grounded hope despite the family’s agony and despair.  When the news is bad, Kate offers families comfort and provides a safe space for them to sort out their grief, anger and confusion.  Then Kate explains the legal and medical protocols and helps them through their first difficult decisions.
And Kate is there for the wardens, as well. It is never just a job for the wardens.  Cold weather, rain and sleet, murky water, deep snow are all shaken off as these dedicated professionals focus on their mission.  When the search ends tragically, Kate writes, the wardens “will go home, hold the warm, living bodies of their own children, and know all too well the risk they take by loving in such a precarious world.”
And when the news is good, when the lost are found and families are reunited, the job of the wardens and their chaplain is the best in the world.
As Kate Braestrup has learned, waiting is hard and miserable work — but waiting is often the beginning of miracles and everyone involved is changed forever.

As Kate Braestrup has learned, waiting is a wise teacher.  The experience of waiting reveals the presence of God in our midst; it enables us to realize what we appreciate, value and cherish; it teaches us how to be present and attentive to family and friends; it opens up our vision and spirits to realize the love of God in our midst.  In the middle of the busiest season of year, Advent calls us to embrace the wisdom of waiting: to slow down and see the goodness of God around us that we rush by too quickly to see, to behold Christ in every moment of compassion, forgiveness and joy we experience in the everyday Advent of our lives.  
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Fr. Jude Botelho:

Dear Friend,
We spend much of our time waiting. We wait for a job, we wait for healing, we wait for the dawn, and we wait in queues for buses and trains. We wait for purchases we make, and we wait for surfing the internet. Sometimes waiting can be boring and frustrating, at other times waiting can be exciting and hopeful, especially when we know what we are waiting for. Have we waited for God? Are we ready to wait for Him? Are we prepared to wait for a long time until He comes? Have an eager and exciting weekend awaiting Him! - Fr. Jude
One of the key concepts of the Old Testament was the idea of the ‘covenant’ by which God bound himself to his people, and a visible symbol of the covenant was the temple in which God dwelt among his people. In the temple was enshrined the book of the Law which was meant to guide the behavior of the people. Isaiah in today’s reading looks forward to the time when the covenant between God and his people will be extended to all people, where the temple will be the worshipping place for all mankind. He sees Jerusalem as the focal point where all peoples will come to worship the Lord in the temple on the mountain, the dwelling place of God. When that happened all people would live in peace and harmony with God and their fellow human beings.

Towards the Mountain
Alan Paton was a South African writer. Among the books he wrote was the haunting story, Cry the Beloved Country, which so poignantly described the situation in South Africa under apartheid. Paton had a dream. He dreamt of a new day for his beloved South Africa, a day in which there would be justice and equality for all. For this reason he entered into politics, and fought to end the iniquitous system of apartheid. For decades he followed his dream, and worked generously and courageously to make it a reality. It was a dream that many said would not be realized. Yet it was. Unfortunately, Paton did not live to see it. He died before the dawn. – The prophet Isaiah had an even bolder dream, a dream of universal brotherhood and peace. Isaiah’s vision was a splendid one. It would only be realized by the coming of the Lord Jesus.
- Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’

The second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is a wake-up call, and it urges us to turn away from the darkness of sin and evil and walk into the light of Christ. We can no longer sleep, for though it is not yet full day, we live no longer in darkness which favours idleness and dishonesty. If we really believe in Christ, if we are impatient for our hope to be realized, we must act as people in love with the light and truth of Christ. To be a Christian is to live in the light and walk in the light, striving to let His light shine in our lives.

Wake-up call
God’s wake-up call can come to people in different ways, and will mean different things to different people. In Mexico in the diocese of Bishop Samuel Ruiz almost 80 % of the population of his diocese was indigenous. The Bishop has become known as ‘the defender of the Indians.’ But it wasn’t always like that. In a talk given in Westminster Cathedral in Lent 1996, Bishop Ruiz said: “For twenty years I was like a sleeping fish. I had my eyes open but saw nothing. I was just proud to be in the diocese where the churches were crowded. Then one day I saw an Indian tied to a tree being whipped by his boss, because he had refused to work an extra eight hours.” That incident opened the bishop’s eyes and he began to look. What he saw being done to his people spurred him into action. He got involved in negotiations with the Zapato rebels and the Mexican government. One of the phrases we often use is ‘it dawned on me’. In this way we recognize that it is not enough to be physically awake. We need to be awake socially, morally and spiritually.
- Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’

In today’s Gospel Christ clearly urges his disciples to stay awake because we do not know when the Son of Man will return. Each day summons us to awake from our sleep. Some days we are enthusiastic in anticipating a great day ahead, on other days we dread the beginning of a new day. Life may be empty and monotonous for us. We may be unemployed, or retired, sickly or old and there is nothing to look forward to. No one has a perfect life. All of us have some difficulty or another. It is how we face life that makes all the difference. Advent issues a spiritual wake up call for all of us, and has an awakening power. To be spiritually awake means to be open, receptive, vigilant and active. To be spiritually awake is to be attentive to God and others. In today’s Gospel Jesus reminds us that in the days of Noah people took it easy, they carried on doing the usual things and were caught off guard when the floods came. Only Noah heeded the warning and built himself and his family an ark to save them from the flood. We are not being asked to run out and build a boat to escape, or to buy a parachute, or construct an anti- raid shelter. We are being asked to listen to the Lord so that we may walk in his path and live according to his precepts and commandments. Jesus also talks of the future coming of the Son of man. We prepare for the future coming by taking responsibility for the present time. The only way we can prepare for an unpredictable event is to make the present a time of fidelity.

There is time!
Three devils were sent to earth to tempt and ruin people. The first one said: “I will tell them that there is no God.” But Satan, the chief of the devils said: “That won’t do, for the people know that there is a God.” The second devil said: “I will proclaim that there is no hell.” “That is not good enough either because man knows there is hell as a punishment for sin.” Then the third one said: “I will convince them that there is plenty of time, So don’t hurry, don’t worry.” “That is an excellent strategy,” said Satan, “Go and ruin the people.”
- Anthony Kolencherry in ‘Living the Word’

"The gospel of this Sunday puts us firmly on the alert. It emphasizes the state of unpreparedness, the sense of false security developed with regard to the unforeseeable coming of the Son of Man. As in the days of Noah, people are not troubled, they go about their business. And suddenly the catastrophe will be upon them: they will be taken, surprised in their torpor, careless as they were of what mattered. The comparison of the Lord to one coming in the night brings out clearly the need for constant watchfulness. At every moment of her history the Church is in constant danger of not hearing the one who knocks at the door, knocks in order to waken Christians to the calls of the Spirit. In our time the Church, and individual Christians, still have a prophetic role to play – to rouse a slumbering world, which is in danger of losing its soul. How are we to remain watchful, how are we to act so that we live in the generous service of God’s kingdom? How are we to go about our affairs so as not to be surprised in the evening of our lives, in the evening of the world, by the judgement of the Lord?” - Glenstal Sunday Missal

Awake
A man came to Buddha and asked him, “Tell me Buddha, are you a God?” “No, I am not a god.” “Are you an angel?” “No, I am not.” “Are you a prophet?” “No, not a prophet either.” “What are you then?” Whereupon Buddha answered… “I am awake.” – Most of us are not awake. We are always in slumber. We are not aware of our own thoughts, feelings and actions. We function most of the time, like an automaton. The enlightened are those who are aware and awake.
- G. Francis Xavier in ‘Inspiring Stories’

Waiting for Godot
Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot focuses on two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon. They sit around waiting for the coming of a mysterious person known only as Godot. As they wait for him they try to recall what their meeting is all about. They know that it is important and that their future depends on Godot’s arrival, but that is all that they can remember. Then two other characters appear on the stage. Vladimir and Estragon are not sure if either one is Godot since they do not know how to recognize him. As the play ends Vladimir and Estragon are left alone on a dark and empty stage, still waiting for Godot to come. –Today’s liturgy ushers the season of ‘Advent’ Advent celebrates our Lord’s coming in three ways: first, in past history, when he was born a man; second, in the present time, when he comes at Christmas; third, in the future, when he will return at the end of time. In a sense, this final and future coming of Christ is a process, one that will begin for us personally when we die and time will end for us. For the moment, we are still living in a ‘mean-time’. That is, the time between Christ’s coming in past history to share our humanity and his coming in the future to lead us into glory. Lest our waiting in this ‘mean-time’ be empty and meaningless, as it seemed to be for Vladimir and Estragon in Beckett’s play, we celebrate an Advent culminating in a Christmas each year to recall why we are waiting and for whom we are awaiting. Another purpose of Advent is to instruct us how to recognize the Lord’s coming – in the duties we carry out, or the things that happen to us, or in the people we meet. During Advent we have to discipline ourselves to see Christ in every one and in every situation. Our waiting then will not be one of frustration, but rather one of readiness and anticipation.
- Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’

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1.      Andrew Greeley: 

Background:

Advent is a time of warning, a time of preparation, a time of urgency. It is supposed to prepare for Christmas, but the Christmas of everyday life as much if not more than the festival of December 25. While the apocalyptic rhetoric of today's Gospel might not be the exact words of Jesus and while in any case that rhetoric was not meant to be taken literally, the urgency of the message is surely his. We must not slip into the routine of ordinary life and miss the opportunity of life itself.   

 Time and with it life slips through our fingers. Tomorrow never comes but ends up yesterday until there are few tomorrows left in our life and all too many yesterdays. It looked like forever and it was only a very short time, so little time. And so much waste, so many lost opportunities. Advent is a time of recalling opportunities lost in the past and taking steps to miss fewer opportunities in the days and weeks and years ahead, such as these may be.

Story:

Once upon a time there were two eighth grade girls,  Lois and Ella Mae, who were both sensational volley ball players. Lois was the captain of the team and the best player on the team. Ella Mae was co-captain and the second best player on the team. They were also “best friends” and were together all the time even when they weren’t playing volleyball. Ella Mae didn’t mind being second best and Lois didn’t think being best was all that big a deal. 

 There was one difference between them, however, and I bet you know what it is. I wouldn’t want to say that Lois was lazy exactly, but she was just a big deficient in the work ethic area, know what I mean? Ella Mae on the other hand was almost compulsively committed to practice. Hardest working player in the whole school, including the boy athletes. Lois used to tell herself – and everyone else who would listen to her – that Ella Mae had to work hard because she didn’t quite have all the talent at a co-captain ought to have. WELL, the team wom their section and their division, and their region. They were really good, Lois was the best spiker in the city and Ella Mae never gave up on what looked like a lost point. 

 Finally they came to the city championship against their traditional rivals, St. Adelbert. Ella Mae wanted to practice every day the week before. Lois said two days was enough. After all, there was more to being in eighth grade than volleyball. You know what happened? Sure you do. They lost to St A by one point because they were just a little bit out of condition. Don’t cry, Ellie, Lois said to her friend in the local ice cream store where they were eating pink pistachio peppermint ice cream. We’ll have lots of championship games in high school. BUT, Ella Mae sobbed, we’ll never have an eighth grade championship game again. 

2.      From Sermons: 

Today marks the beginning of the season of Advent, a time of preparation, a time of going toward the coming again of the Messiah, a time of great expectation and great anticipation. But exactly what is it that we anticipate? What are we getting ready for? What do we expect to happen? Do we anticipate the end of the world, as some religious cults always do at this time of the year? Are we preparing our hearts and spirits to receive again the coming the coming of the Christ child into the world? Or are we preparing for yet another month-long shopping spree that some have called "economic first-degree murder" - willfully and with malice aforethought murdering our bank accounts? Or maybe we're getting ready for the seven to ten pounds the average American will gain during the season (Lord, please let me be an underachiever this year!)? Or are we preparing for the suicidal traffic jams at the mall, or the general atmosphere of surliness and desperation? (A couple of years back I remember hearing on the local news in West Tennessee that shoppers were actually coming to blows for the right to buy a Holiday Barbie doll!) 

Are we getting ready for the depression, the anxiety, and even the rage that accompanies the secular holiday season? If we allow ourselves to get caught up in the consumer Christmas - and I firmly believe that we in America celebrate two separate events on December 25 - we can easily find that instead of preparing to sing "O Holy Night" we will find ourselves living out one holy nightmare... 

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 It is officially "count-down" time. The moment the red cranberry sauce is wiped off our chins and cleaned off the tablecloth, Black Friday starts. And on Black Friday comes the count-down of the diminishing days until Christmas. That tick-tock of passing time is supposed to induce us into a buying panic and jump-start our frenzied consumerism. It pretty much works. 

But the church has its own "countdown to Christmas." It is called "The Season of Advent." Instead of being a time of consumer manic panic, Advent is a time of preparation for the gift of a miraculous presence. This "preparation" is not about decking the halls or trimming the tree. This "preparation" is not about baking cookies or wrapping packages. This "preparation" is about a truth which comes into the world, not abstract pure and antiseptic clean, but cradled in dirt and mangered in mystery.

Advent is an alarm clock, a moment of truth to rouse out of the "get-by and keep-going" stupor of this world and WAKE UP!  

Wake up to the impending gift of a new beginning.

Wake up to the first baby steps of the Kingdom entering this world through a stable of animals and a cradle of straw.

Wake up from our dogmatic slumbers into the new light of life.

Wake up to the epiphany of Jesus in the world, and in us... 

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 The Warning and Promise of Advent

William Willimon tells the story of a funeral he attended when he was serving a small congregation in rural Georgia. One of his members' relatives died, so Willimon and his wife attended the funeral held in an off-brand, country Baptist church. He writes: "I had never seen anything like it. The preacher began to preach. He shouted; he flailed his arms. 'It's too late for Joe. He's dead. But it ain't too late for you. People drop dead every day. Why wait? Now is the day for decision. Give your life to Jesus.' "

Willimon goes on to suggest that this was the worst thing he had ever seen. He fumed and fussed at his wife Patsy, complaining that the preacher had done the worst thing possible for a grieving family - manipulating them with guilt and shame. Patsy agreed. But then she said: "Of course the worst part of it all is that what he said is true."

My friends, each one of us lives in the shadow of the apocalypse - the dark reality of the end of our time and the end of the world's time. That is the warning of Advent. But there is also good news. There is also the promise of Advent - the promise that in the darkness, in the shadows, in the unpredictable anxiety of our unfinished lives, God is present. God is in control, and God will come again. With each candle we light, the shadows recede a bit, and the promise comes closer. With each candle we light, we are proclaiming that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness will never overcome it. The promise is that wherever there is darkness and dread in our lives, wherever there is darkness and dread in the world around us, God is present to help us endure. God is in charge, and hope is alive. And as long and as interminable as the night seems, morning will come - in God's good time and God's good way.

Susan R. Andrews, The Offense of Grace, CSS Publishing Company 

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Christ May Be Closer Than You Know 

Martin, the Cobbler, is Leo Tolstoy's story about a lonely shoemaker who is promised in a dream that Christ will come to visit his shop. The next day Martin rises early, gets his shop ready, prepares a meal and waits. The only one who showed up in the morning was an old beggar who came by and asked for rest. Martin gave him a room he had prepared for his divine guest. The only one to show up in the afternoon was an old lady with a heavy load of wood. She was hungry and asks for food. He gave her the food he had prepared for his divine guest. As evening came, a lost boy wandered by. Martin took him home, afraid all the while he would miss the Christ. That night in his prayers he asks the Lord, "Where were You? I waited all day for You."

The Lord said to Martin:

"Three times I came to your friendly door,
Three times my shadow was on your floor.
I was a beggar with bruised feet.
I was the woman you gave to eat.
I was the homeless child on the street."

Watch out! Christ may be closer than you can imagine.

J. Howard Olds, adapted from Leo Tolstoy's Where Love Is, God Is, Faith Breaks, www.Sermons.com
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I Shall Not Rush  

Here is a version of the 23rd Psalm that ought to be mandatory reading each day of Advent, and a unison reading each Advent Sunday.  

The lord is my pace setter . . . I shall not rush

He makes me stop for quiet intervals
He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity
He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace
Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here
His timelessness, his all importance will keep me in balance
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility
My cup of joyous energy overflows
Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours for I shall walk in the Pace of my Lord and dwell in his house for ever.

A version of Psalm 23 from Japan, as reprinted in Mother Teresa, Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations, Prayers, ed. Kathryn Spink (San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1983), 76-77.

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 Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition 

In Monty Python's sketch, "The Spanish Inquisition," a man is being questioned in a way that surprises him and he says, "Mr. Wentworth just told me to come in here and say that there was trouble at the mill, that's all - I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition." As if on cue, inquisitors burst into the room and one of them says, "NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our four...no... Amongst our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again." The inquisitors exit the scene to re-enter and begin the speech again.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. "If the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into" (Matthew 24:43). The Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.  

Mary Hinkle Shore, The Element of Surprise 

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 Prepared 

God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is not the choice. You must take it. The only choice is how. 

Henry Ward Beecher 

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 Humor: High Risk

 I remember seeing a cartoon depicting a church that had been built in close proximity to an active volcano. In the picture are the church, its sign - "The Church Next to the Active Volcano" - and two men standing in front of the church, one of whom is wearing a clergy shirt and appears to be speaking to the other man. The caption reads, "Of course, there is a high degree of risk being located here, but it lends a great sense of urgency to my preaching!"

Johnny Dean

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 Foresight

Someone once asked Wayne Gretsky, the great hockey player, how he managed to become the best goal-scorer in the history of the game. He simply replied, "While everyone else is chasing the puck, I go where the puck is going to be."

Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com

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We've Done Everything Else 

"We have learned to soar through the air like birds, to swim through the seas like fish, to soar through space like comets. Now it is high time we learned to walk the earth as the children of our God." 

William Sloan Coffin 

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Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed!

 A.J. Gordon was the great Baptist pastor of the Clarendon Church in Boston, Massachusetts. One day he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "What are you going to do with them?" "I'm going to play with them, and then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, "Mister, you don't want them, they're just little old wild birds and can't sing very well." Gordon replied, "I'll give you $2 for the cage and the birds." "Okay, it's a deal, but you're making a bad bargain." The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue.  

The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ's coming to seek and to save the lost -- paying for them with His own precious blood. "That boy told me the birds were not songsters," said Gordon, "but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, 'Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!'" 

Brett Blair, Collected Sermons, Sermons.com  

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What Is Time?

 What is time? Who can easily and briefly explain this? Who can comprehend this, even in thought, so as to express it in a word? Yet what do we discuss more familiarly and knowingly in conversation than time? Surely, we understand it when we talk about it, and also understand it when we hear others talk about it. What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I want to explain it to someone who asks me, I do not know.

Augustine, Confessions, Book xi, Chapter 14 

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A New Kingdom Will Emerge 

In the Book of Genesis we find the story of Noah. There had been endless days on the ark... days of waiting and hoping. In every direction Noah could see only water. One day, in faith, he released a dove to search for land. The Bible says the dove "found no place to set her foot" and returned. Noah was put on hold. He had to wait. He waited with faith and in hope.

He sent out a dove a second time. It returned with a spring of freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak. Noah could not see the land, but he knew it was there. It began to appear out of the watery waste. The worst was over. As sure as God made little green apples, a new, green world would emerge out of the wreckage of the old...

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From Fr. Tony Kadavil's Collection:

1: Unheeded warning: Early Sunday morning, June 30, 1974, a hundred young people were dancing to the soul-rock music at Gulliver’s in Port Chester, on the border between New York and Connecticut. Suddenly the place was filled with flames and smoke. In a few minutes 24 were dead, burnt by fire, suffocated by smoke, or crushed in the exit passage by the escaping youngsters. According to the Mayor of Port Chester, the dancing crowd ignored the repeated and frantic warnings given by the band manager when he noticed the smoke. Today’s second reading passes on to us the warnings given by St. Paul, and today’s Gospel gives Jesus’ warning to be vigilant and prepared for his coming as our Judge. (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

2: Doomsday paranoia: The Jehovah’s Witnesses frightened gullible followers at least 3 times during the last century with their “end of the world” predictions – in 1914, 1918 and 1974. It was in 1978 that the media flashed the shocking news of the mass suicide of 914 men and women from the U.S.A. They belonged to a doomsday cult called the People’s Temple, in Jonestown, Guyana, and they committed suicide at the command of their paranoid leader, Rev. Warren (Jim) Jones. In 1988, Edgar Whisenant, a NASA engineer, used his mathematical skills to set a date for the return of Jesus. He wrote a book called, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Take Place in 1988. In the same year Rev. Colin Deal published a book titled Christ Returns By 1988 – 101 Reasons Why. A very popular book in 1989 was 89 Reasons Why the World will End in 1989. It was in 1995 that the landmark apocalyptic thriller novel, Left Behind, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind) first of a series of 16 books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. In chronological order, these are: The Rising, The Regime, The Rapture, Left Behind, Tribulation Force, Nicolae, Soul Harvest, Apollyon, Assassins, The Indwelling, The Mark, Desecration, The Remnant, Armageddon, Glorious Appearing, and Kingdom Come. They were published from 1995 to 2007. Over 62 million copies of the Left Behind series and its related books have been sold, generating $650 million. In October 2005 a big-budget film, Left Behind (https://youtu.be/MUOODCHc-XU)n, based on this novel series, was released and shown in all Evangelical Christian parishes. The film Omega Code, released in October 1999 (in time for the Millennium?), was an independent movie funded by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the largest Evangelical Christian TV network in the U.S. It was promoted by a team of 2,400 U.S. Evangelical pastors. The plot involves a portrayal of the rapture, when “born again” and “saved” Christians, both alive and dead, are supposed to fly up in the air to meet Jesus on his Second Coming.  Omega Code was rated in the top 10 grossing movies for October 1999. This is how modern man reacts to the end of the world.  Today’s readings remind us that we should be well prepared and always ready to meet Jesus at all times, either at the end of our lives or at the end of the world, whichever comes first, without getting panicky. (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

3: Shirt over the wings: Grandma Martha was scolding her little grandson on his failure to go to church on a Sunday. “You will never get into Heaven the way you are going today,” she told him. “Well, Granny, the reason that I don’t go is I got a problem. I can’t for the life of me figure how I’m gonna get my shirt on over those wings I’ll have on my way to Heaven.” “Never mind about shirts,” said the grandma. “The question in your case is how are you gonna get your hat on over those horns which the bad boys get when they are taken to hell?”

#2: End of the World News Reactions: God finally had had enough and decided to end the world. However, He wanted to warn the people. He decided to call the three most influential people of the world.  He therefore summoned Donald Trump, Xi Jinping (President of China), and Bill Gates into one room and told them of His plan and asked them to go out and inform the world. President Trump immediately appeared on CNN news and told the U.S., “I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that God congratulated me for standing for religious and moral principles.  The bad news is that He is going to end the world and I won’t be able to win my second term and bring back full prosperity to our country.” Jiang Zemin went to the Communist network and told his people: “I have bad news and worse news.  The bad news is that, despite what we have taught all these years, there IS a God. The worse news is that He is upset.  He is about to end the world.” Bill Gates turned to the Internet and informed the world: “I have good news and better news…  The good news is that God thinks I am one of the three most influential people on earth… The better news is that Microsoft need not upgrade its WINDOWS anymore.

3) Search Google: 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. [Jeff Totten, “The Lord’s Laughter,” Joyful Noiseletter (Jan. 2004), p. 2.]

20 Additional anecdotes

1) Cry the Beloved Country: Alan Paton was a South African writer. Among the books he wrote was the haunting story, Cry the Beloved Country, which poignantly described the situation in South Africa under apartheid. Paton had a dream. He dreamt of a new day for his beloved South Africa, a day in which there would be justice and equality for all. For this reason, he entered politics, and fought to end the iniquitous system of apartheid. For decades, he followed his dream and worked generously and courageously to make it a reality. It was a dream that many said would not be realized. Yet it was, though unfortunately Paton did not live to see it. He died before the dawn. The prophet Isaiah had an even bolder dream, a prophetic vision of universal brotherhood and peace. Isaiah’s vision was a splendid one. It would only be realized by the coming of the Lord Jesus. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

2) Left Behind: (https://youtu.be/2jhMj5vCtrA) The scene is the interior of a Boeing 747 in the wee hours of morning. The plane is somewhere over the Atlantic en route to London. The captain leaves his cockpit and strolls down the aisle intending to flirt with the senior flight attendant. She is in shock. People are missing. They have vanished, leaving shoes, socks, clothes, jewelry-everything behind. An elderly lady, sitting in first class, cries as she holds her husband’s sweater and pants. She has been left behind. (V 40: Two men will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill, one will be taken and the other left. ) So begins Left Behind, the first novel of the immensely popular fiction series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Sixteen volumes are now on the market with 62 million copies sold for $650 million, along with a movie, web site, calendar, and survivor kits for children and youth. Tyndale publishers tripled their company’s profits in two years. But the truth is that Left Behind is fiction, not fact. It has more to do with finances than faith. Its miracle lies in its marketing, not its theology. The Rapture, on which the whole series is built, is the remote idea that believers will somehow be caught up in the clouds with Jesus to avoid the great persecution spreading over the earth. Matthew knows nothing about “rapture.” He passes on Jesus’ message about end-times. Just read the text. In Verse 36 we read, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Who of us is smarter than Jesus? Jesus didn’t even know. Why should we try to second guess the Savior? (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/end-times-election-result_b_777865.html) (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

3) The Judgment Day: President John F. Kennedy was very fond of a particular story which he often used to close his speeches during his 1960 presidential campaign. It is the story of Colonel Davenport, Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives back in the year 1789.  One day, while the House was in session, the sky of Hartford suddenly grew dark and gloomy. Some of the Evangelical House representatives looked out the windows and thought this was a sign that the end of the world had come.  Uproar ensued, with the representatives calling for immediate adjournment.  But Davenport rose and said, “Gentlemen, the Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not.  If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment.  If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty.  Therefore, I wish that candles be brought.”  Candles were brought and the session continued. Today’s readings contain the same message: we always need to be prepared to receive Jesus at his second coming by accepting him now as our personal savior and doing now what he has commanded us to do.(Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

4) Additional end-time predictions: People have been predicting the end of the world since the first century. St. Paul thought Christ would return in his lifetime. Hippolytus, one of the early philosophers, predicted Christ would return in 500 A.D. In 960, German theologian, Bernard of Thuringia, calculated the end of the world would come in 992. Some were so sure the world was going to end in 1000 A.D. that they did not bother to plant crops. Astrologer, Johann Stoffler, said the world would be flooded on February 20, 1524. Solomon Eccles, in 1665, ran through the streets of London carrying blazing sulfur on his head announcing that the world was going to go up in flames within the year. In 1874, Charles Russell, founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, concluded that Christ had already returned, but people would have another forty years of grace. In 1914, the denomination was forced to revise its timetable. Herbert Armstrong, in his publication, Plain Truth, set the date for the end of the world as January 7, 1972. The Year 2000, and more specifically, the projected Y2K computer problem, caused many to think that the “end was at hand.” Some people made statements such as “a United Nations world-takeover is imminent” and that “Y2K will be the event that they use.” Some even claimed that Jesus spoke of Y2K in His Olivet Discourse, using Luke 21:25 as justification: “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves.”

On September 12th of 2001, a false quotation of the 16th century French astrologer, Nostradamus, spread across the Internet, saying, “Metal birds, striking twin brothers, will mark the end of the world.” The Bible says our times are in God’s hands. We think in minutes. God thinks in millennia. Psalm 90:4 states, “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day.” Martin Luther said in the 1500’s, “We have reached the time of the white horse of the apocalypse; this world can’t last any longer.” On April 3, 1843, one-half million Seventh Day Adventists waited for the end of the world. Some even climbed mountains hoping for a head start to Heaven. Remember the Y2K scare at the turn of the last millennium? (http://www.tnnonline.net/tribnews/paranoia/milmadness/index.html). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

5) More end-time fixations: End-time fixations are not exclusive manifestations of ancient communities. On October 23, 1844, thousands of Christians sold their earthly possessions, dressed in white robes, climbed to the tops of the highest mountains they could find, climbed to the tippy-tops of trees to get even higher, and waited for Jesus to return. They had been told this was the date by William Miller, a farmer from western New York who dabbled in apocalypticism which led him to declare this as the date of Jesus’ return based on his exegesis of the Scriptures. When no one went anywhere but down the mountain, he announced a calculation error. The real date was to be six months later, which also came and went as his followers now went . . . away . . . for good. Jim Jones was another apocalyptic leader. In the 1970s he moved his People’s Temple Full Gospel Church from San Francisco to Guyana, where he could wait for the end-times by creating a community that would live as if the end-times had already occurred. On November 18, 1978, Jim Jones and 911 of his followers ended their wait for the end-times by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. Other apocalyptic communities, from Mother Ann Lee’s Shakers to John Humphrey Noyes’ Oneida Community, sublimated their end-times energies into crafting Shaker furniture and Oneida silverware, respectively. Jesus’ words to his disciples this morning warn us against such idle speculations or apocalypticism. Apocalypticism can be defined as the learning and lore of sages and scholars concerning the consummation of time, the coming Day of the Lord, the return of the Son of Man.

6) Still more Doomsday bluffing: Anticipating the end of the world in 1975, twenty-four men, women, and children from Grannis, Arkansas, moved into one tiny house and waited there for ten months. The end did not come as they had expected, and they were evicted for not paying their rent. In 1986 a man named Richard Kieninger of Garland, Texas, organized a group of people to survive the calamities of the end of time. On May 5, 2000, Kieninger’s followers planned to witness the last day from a dirt pile. Similarly, in 1525, a German preacher named Stoeffler predicted the end of the world by flood. All of his parishioners built boats and rafts to survive the end. When the flood did not come, they threw Herr Stoeffler into a deep pond. Such was the case on October 22, 1844. The followers of William Miller, a farmer turned preacher, donned white ascension robes and waited on a hilltop for the Second Coming of Christ. When Christ did not come, they adjusted their beliefs and formed what is now known as the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Jesus said that we should not wait by trying to guess the date. Said Jesus, “No one knows, not even the angels of heaven.” He wanted his followers to be ready for the day of the coming of the Lord. He said that we must be ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour we least expect. Jesus’ call is clear. He calls his followers to expect the end to come at any moment. (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

7) Christ is coming; be prepared: When the bi-partisan 9/11 commission made their final report to Congress, they begin their report with these words. “September 11, was a day of unprecedented shock and suffering in the history of the United States. The nation was unprepared. …. The 9/11 attacks were a shock, but they should not have come as a surprise.” What follows is a long list of warning signs that were generally ignored by the Clinton and Bush administrations in their pursuit of other matters. Things have changed since then. Now the unofficial creed of the American Homeland war on terror is, “Be Vigilant, Be Watchful, and Be Prepared.” We must not be caught off-guard again. There are Christians who approach the coming of Christ the way the government deals with the war on terror. They ring out a danger and they announce a warning. With concern, they say, “You’d better get ready, you’d better watch out, because before you know it Christ will come.” (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

8) Jesus is the living Lord who will come again: To live by Faith also means we will do what we can to offset the threat of the annihilation of life on earth, first of all, by registering our outrage at the atrocities that war, by itself, inflicts upon people. Not many of us can afford to do what Joan Kroc, the widow of the founder of McDonald’s fast food chain, did just after Memorial Day had been celebrated in 1985. She bought full page advertisements in newspapers and had the following quote from the late former-President Dwight D. Eisenhower printed beside his picture in his military uniform: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children … This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.” Beyond our voiced or written objections to the arms race or the bomb race, it is for us Christians, as the expression of our Faith in God, to do the good works of love and mercy – feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, telling people the Good News in Jesus Christ – incumbent upon those who believe Jesus is the living Lord who will come again. [George M. Bass, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown, (CSS Publishing Company, 1986), 0-89536-817-X] (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

9) “Does anybody really care?” The musical group, Chicago, recorded a song several years ago asking, “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?” When it comes to predicting the end of the world, Jesus says, nobody knows what time it is but God, so why should the rest of us try to learn it? (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

10) “He’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.” There is a beautiful Afro-American Spiritual song about waiting for the Lord’s second coming doing one’s duty faithfully:

There’s a king and a captain high, and he’s coming by and by
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.
You can hear his legions charging, the regions of the sky
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes. (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

11) Saints and end-times: St. Francis, Saint of Nature, was hoeing his garden one day. A philosopher friend approached him and asked, “What would you do if you learned you would die before the sun sets?” St. Francis reflected for a moment and replied, “I would finish hoeing my garden. I would be faithful to what I am doing now.” Bonhoeffer was asked by critics, “Why do you expose yourself to all this danger? Jesus will return any day and all your work and suffering will be for nothing.” Bonhoeffer said, “If Jesus returns tomorrow, then tomorrow I will rest from my labors, but today I have work to do. I must continue the struggle until I am finished.” (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

12) Wake up and stay awake: Ever since the attack on the World Trade center in New York on Sept 11, 2001 there have been nonstop warnings to be alert to possible terrorist attacks. In U. S. airports repeated public announcements from Homeland Security advise whether the level of alert is yellow, orange or red. People are asked to be vigilant. Today’s second and third readings want us to move to red alert. Paul wants the Romans to wake up, and Jesus warns us to stay awake. (Sr. Dr. Barbara E. Reid, NT professor at CTU, Chicago). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

13) We ought to look ahead: John Osborne’s novel Look Back in Anger dealt with the disillusionment a man faced in his youth, due to inequality and unfairness in society. Looking back is less popular today; the modern tendency is rather to Look Ahead, and many pundits are happy to forecast our future. — Conservationists, Ecologists, Demographers, City Planners, Sociologists, Actuaries and Life-Insurance agents. All this peering into half-foreseeable social facts is useful, up to a point. As rational people, we ought to look ahead, and make plans for future contingencies. Jeremiah … prophesies that God will fulfill his promise of a Savior. He looks to a time when Judah will enjoy God’s peace and protection because of the birth of “the Lord [Who] is our righteousness.” (Biblical IE). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

14) Waiting for Godot: Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot focuses on two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon. They sit around waiting for the coming of a mysterious person known only as Godot. As they wait for him, they try to recall what their meeting is all about. They know that it is important and that their future depends on Godot’s arrival, but that is all that they can remember. Then two other characters appear on the stage. Vladimir and Estragon are not sure if either one is Godot since they do not know how to recognize him. As the play ends Vladimir and Estragon are left alone on a dark and empty stage, still waiting for Godot to come.  -Today’s liturgy ushers the season of “Advent.” Advent celebrates our Lord’s coming in three ways: first, in past history, when He was born a man; second, in the present time, when He comes at Christmas; third, in the future, when He will return at the end of time. In a sense, this final and future coming of Christ is a process, one that will begin for us personally when we die and time will end for us. For the moment, we are still living in a “meantime,” that is, the time between Christ’s coming in past history to share our humanity and his coming in the future to lead us into glory. Lest our waiting in “meantime” be empty and meaningless, as it seemed to be for Vladimir and Estragon in Beckett’s play, we celebrate an Advent culminating in a Christmas each year to recall why we are waiting and whom we are awaiting. Another purpose of Advent is to instruct us how to recognize the Lord’s coming – in the duties we carry out, or the things that happen to us, or in the people we meet. During Advent we have to discipline ourselves to see Christ in everyone and in every situation. Our waiting then will not be one of frustration, but rather one of readiness and anticipation. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

15) Be Awake: A man came to Buddha and asked him, “Tell me Buddha, are you a God?” “No, I am not a god.” “Are you an angel?” “No, I am not.” “Are you a prophet?” “No, not a prophet either.”  “What are you then?” Whereupon Buddha answered. “I am awake.” – Most of us are not awake. We are always in slumber. We are not aware of our own thoughts, feelings and actions. We function most of the time, like an automaton. The enlightened are those who are aware and awake. (G. Francis Xavier in Inspiring Stories; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

16) “They have plenty of time.” Student devils were being dispatched to the earth to finish their training. Satan interviewed them. To the first: “How will you operate?” Said he: “I will instruct people God does not exist.” The Devil shook his head: “Most know our Enemy exists.” The next said: “I will argue Hell does not exist.” Satan was annoyed: “After millions of abortions, people know Hell exists.” The last said: “I will tell all they have plenty of time.” Satan beamed: “Good woman. Do that and you’ll bring people down here by the billions. Why can’t these male devils be as clever as you.?” (Adapted from Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

17) Wake-up call: God’s wake-up call can come to people in different ways and will mean different things to different people. In Mexico in the diocese of Bishop Samuel Ruiz almost 80% of the population was indigenous. The Bishop has become known as “the defender of the Indians.” But it wasn’t always like that. In a talk given in Westminster Cathedral in Lent 1996, Bishop Ruiz said: “For twenty years I was like a sleeping fish. I had my eyes open but saw nothing. I was just proud to be in the diocese where the churches were crowded. Then one day I saw an Indian tied to a tree being whipped by his boss, because he had refused to work an extra eight hours.” That incident opened the bishop’s eyes and he began to look. What he saw being done to his people spurred him into action. He got involved in negotiations with the Zapato rebels and the Mexican government. One of the phrases we often use is “It dawned on me.” In this way we recognize that it is not enough to be physically awake. We need to be awake socially, morally and spiritually. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

18) When did you last sharpen your life? There was this very strong woodcutter who asked for a job with a timber merchant and got it. The wages the timber merchant paid were really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day the woodcutter brought 18 trees. “Congratulations’ the boss said “go on that way.” Very motivated by the words of the boss, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could only bring 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder but brought only 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees. “I must be losing my strength,” the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying he could not understand what was going on. “When was the last time you sharpened your axe? The boss asked. “Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees..” – We may have been busy with so many things, we may have neglected our spiritual life. Like the axe that needs sharpening, we also need to sharpen our spirit. Let us sharpen our spirit this Advent by becoming more loving, more prayerful, more compassionate, more generous and more faithful. Life is not about finding yourself! Life is about recreating yourself! Advent is God’s marvelous gift to all of us. Let this season unfold slowly and nicely. (John Pichappilly in The Table of the Lord; quoted by Fr. Botelho).

19) Rearranging Deck Chairs? On the night of April 15, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. Over 1,500 people lost their lives in one of the worst sea disasters in history. A few years ago, a magazine recalled the great disaster and asked its readers this shocking – almost blasphemous – question: “If we’d been on the Titanic when it sank, would we have rearranged the deck chairs?” At first we say to ourselves, “What a ridiculous question! No one in his right mind would ignore wailing sirens on a sinking ship and rearrange its deck chairs! No one with an ounce of sanity would ignore the shouts of drowning people and keep rearranging deck chairs!” But as we continue to read the magazine, we see the reason for the strange question. And suddenly we ask ourselves, “Are we, perhaps, rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship?”   For example, are we so caught up with material things in life that we are giving a backseat to spiritual things? Are we so busy making a living that we are forgetting the purpose of life? Are we so taken up with life that we are forgetting why God gave us life? (Mark Link in Sunday Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

20) Warning of tornados and typhoons. Residents of the southern United States, eastern Mexico and the Caribbean are visited annually by fierce storms called hurricanes. Similar storms generated in the Pacific Ocean are called typhoons. These storms usually occur during the months of June to November and provide an opportunity for residents of these areas to be on a “first-name-basis” (pun intended) with the incredible forces of nature. Because of the development of highly sensitive meteorological instruments, hurricanes (and typhoons) can be detected at their point of origin and tracked with an astonishing degree of accuracy. Consequently, residents in the path of the storm can be forewarned; this enables them to make the necessary preparations which include boarding up windows, mooring boats, stocking up on water, batteries, and non-perishable foods and, –in the event that a strong storm is expected to make land fall nearby–, to evacuate the area. In spite of the fact that they have been duly warned of the impending danger, there are always a few who literally throw caution to the wind and ignore the advice given them. Others flaunt a cavalier attitude and claim that they can “ride out” the storm. Needless to say, some of these daring individuals have proven to be no match for the storm and have perished during its onslaught. Evidently there were some in Jesus’ day, as well as in the primordial days of Noah who were similarly unimpressed and unresponsive to warnings concerning divine intervention. Because of this, they were ill-prepared and therefore susceptible to harsh judgment. In today’s Gospel, believers are given fair warning. Unlike a storm which can be predicted and tracked, and unlike the shopping days left before Christmas which can be subjected to a countdown, the Son of Man will appear unannounced and unexpected. The only antidote to this realization is to live in a constant state of preparedness, alert to his overtures, mindful of his challenges, aware and responsive to his daily calls to discipleship. (Sanchez Files). (Fr. Kadavil) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)