Reflection/Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent Year B 3rd December 2023

Reflection/Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent Year B 3rd December 2023

Isaiah 63:16d-17; 64:1,3b-8. Psalm 80:2ac,3b,15-16a,18-19. 1 Corinthians 1:3-9. Mark 13:33-37.

Theme: The Vigilant Wait.

We begin the season of Advent today and the beginning of the new liturgical year 2024. This new liturgical is cycle B, the year of St. Mark.

Advent means coming or arrival. During Advent, the Catholic Church asks us to prepare for the three-dimensional coming of our Lord Jesus Christ past, present, and future. Jesus is always coming, never fully come. He comes fully only in heaven. He is always coming into our lives here on earth. He comes when we pray. He comes when we study, when we do our duties diligently. He comes through the struggle to conquer temptations, trials, and defects. He comes when we make an effort to be holy.

The Advent readings invite us to be vigilant, to be ready to receive the Lord who is coming. The first reading says God is "our Father, our Redeemer from old is his name" (Isa.63:16). If God is our Father and Redeemer, we should not be enslaved by sin that we cannot be freed and redeemed.

In an attempt by Prophet Isaiah to bring about their conversion, he reminds the people of Judah the dreadful fate their sins are preparing for them. Nevertheless, he has words of hope and promises of a glorious future, that is, the messianic age, for the remnant who will repent and remain faithful to God.

Today's Psalm is a prayer for  the fresh visit of the God who has linked himself to Israel with the bond of the covenant. "O God, bring us back; let your face shine on us, and we shall be saved."

Today's Gospel tells us of the coming of the Redeemer.  In between the two comings of our Lord, we can speak of the coming into our heart. This coming of our Lord is the most important coming of the Lord with regard to each one of us. Today's Gospel tells us, "Watch therefore - for you do not know when the master will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning - lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Watch" (Mark 33:35-37).

Since our Lord will be coming again to judge the living and the dead, and we do not know when He will come, the wise attitude to adopt is to "watch"; that is, an attitude of perpetual vigilance, being constantly on the watch, so that our Lord's second coming does not take us unawares, completely by surprise. Then we should be ready to face our Lord when He comes and will have nothing to fear in his presence.

In the second reading, St. Paul gave thanks to God for the Christians of Corinth because the grace of God, which they received in Christ Jesus, was not lacking in any spiritual gift, as they wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. They remain for us as examples of vigilance.

For a good Christian, the coming of Christ should never become an obsession because we have one formula to live without being excessively preoccupied with the worry of how Christ will meet us when He comes. The formula is simply to live a good life and to focus on being virtuous.

One man was asked what he would be doing if he knew that he would die very soon?  He was doing something good at that point in time, which he never minded to be found doing if death should come. Every Christian ought to be able to say that with respect to the second coming of Christ.

Our readings today give us three fundamental attitudes that characterise Advent: Waiting, Watching, and Welcoming. Waiting is no passive action or mere idleness, but eager expectation and inner longing. In watching, we must stay awake and alert at all times for the Lord's coming. Finally, we have to welcome Christ in our hearts, our homes, and our lives. Every obstacle preventing Him from entering must be removed.

May God grant us the grace to be ever ready so that the coming of our Lord will meet us in a state of grace through Christ our Lord. Amen.