My dear parishioners,
today is the 1st Sunday of Advent and the beginning of the new
liturgical year B-2024. The overall emphasis of the season of
Advent each year is to remind us of the need to be spiritually
prepared to welcome Christ Who wants even now to be born anew
in our hearts. But theologically, the first part of Advent (until
Gaudete Sunday) invites us to be mindful of the 2nd coming of
Christ (Parousia). Thereafter, the later part of Advent invites
us to prepare ourselves to celebrate the feast of the Jesus' birth
at His 1st coming on Christmas Day.
The Gospel of Saint Mark on this 1st Sunday of Advent tells us
the importance of being watchful and waiting until our Master
returns home after His long journey. Saint Mark reminds us that
we all are His servants who should be ready to welcome our Master
no matter at what hour He returns. Therefore my dear friends,
the 3 major themes which we can draw out of the readings of this
1st Sunday of Advent are, Be watchful, be ready and be prepared
to welcome our Master. Today's Gospel ends with the word "watch":
it is a clear invitation to us that we must take serious note
of and prepare ourselves for this all important moment.
My dear brothers and sisters, our daily lives are full of unpredictable
events, both tragic and joyful. It is not for us to know the times
or the places when or where we will have to face them or encounter
Christ through these events. Therefore, it is very important that
we live in a state of readiness—through our daily actions,
words, and thoughts—to encounter Christ, Who could come to
us at any moment. We must be spiritually tough to keep our cool
and handle any situation, be it joyful or tragic, and not to get
into either ecstasy or grief.
Let us also be careful not to become spiritually complacent and
find ourselves sleepy when we need to be super-alert to encounter
Our Master. This spiritual indifference could come to us by focusing
our attention too much on worldly matters like politics, business
and other materialistic affairs. Let us take a "spiritual
time out" during this season of Advent and see how best we
have spiritually handled ourselves last year, and thereby make
a firm decision to be the best version of ourselves this year.
Let the birth of Jesus strengthen all of us to be born anew and
start a New, Mature, Holy and Fruitful life in this new liturgical
year.
