1st. Sunday of Advent (C)
(Jeremiah
33:14-16; 1Thessalonians 3:12 - 4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36)
Our readings today are all concerned with the coming of Our
Lord Jesus Christ at the end of time, to do away with sin and subject all
things to Himself for the glory of His Father.
Now, it is not possible to speak of the events of those
latter days using ordinary language, for they will be events unseen before and beyond
all human anticipation and imagination; that is why, in the Old and New
Testaments -- even when Jesus Himself is speaking -- the language used is of a special
character, called apocalyptic language, full of strange and extreme events:
cosmic at times in their size and impact, always awesome and usually terrifying
for mere human beings. Therefore, because
those times will be, so to speak, divine times, when the divinity of Jesus and
the supernatural majesty and power of the all Holy God are revealed, they will be
– for the ungodly -- times of deep darkness and great distress, such as only
nature’s primeval powers can now inspire:
There will be signs in the sun,
the moon, and the stars; on the earth nations will be in dismay. People will die of fright in anticipation of
what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And
then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
In the first reading, we heard:
In those days Judah shall be safe,
and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: ‘The Lord our
justice.'
Jerusalem will be safe because her inhabitants will be
clothed with justice -- the supernatural God-given gift of righteousness --
says the prophet Jeremiah. That is what St.
Paul had in mind in our second reading taken from his first letter to the
Thessalonians:
Finally, brothers and sisters, we
earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us
how you should conduct yourselves to please God – and as you are conducting
yourselves – you do so even more. For you know what instructions we gave you
through the Lord Jesus.
Mere human beings, who have refused to live in a way pleasing
to God, and who consequently, are not clothed with the righteousness of the
Lord, will be unable to survive the manifestation of divine holiness on the day
of His coming. We are forewarned about
this, dear People of God, every returning summer for, whether we have good eyes
or weak eyes makes no difference, all of us can be blinded by the direct glare
of the noon-day sun. Likewise, immediately
before the coming of the Lord, personal confidence, courage, riches or ability,
self-pity or overflowing rage and anger, will be of no comfort when primeval,
instinctive, terror strikes the human heart at the sight of the tumultuous
seas, mountainous waves, or rivers of flaming volcanic lava in full spate.
Only those prepared by sincere conversion and divine
endowment, fortified by prayer and personal love of God, will find themselves able
to survive those days, as Jesus warned us:
Be vigilant at all times and pray
that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent, and to
stand before the Son of Man.
Since this will be the situation when God comes to bring
time to a close and to destroy sin from the face of the earth; and most
especially, when you think that we only have one life, that is one chance, and whoever gets it wrong
cannot come back and try again, it is surely amazing that many put their trust
in merely human self-appointed and self-opiniated, teachers, gurus, prophets,
and guides! Divine holiness, majesty and power will be manifested; all-seeing knowledge and inscrutable wisdom
will be deployed; and yet, you find some devilishly proud and presumptuous
people saying to others who are, incredibly, foolish enough to listen to them:
“Follow me, do what I am doing, see how I am enjoying myself! It won’t be that hard at the end … you just
go to sleep, that is the end of everything, there’s nothing after that!” Issues that have exercised human minds and
involved human hearts and consciences from man’s beginning, which have provoked
a morally unanimous religious awareness, appreciation, and response from humankind,
are challenged and called into question by individuals whose pride is overwhelming
and whose life but a fleeting shadow. They
come out with teachings which, seemingly human, are ultimately devilish: sexuality
is not something given by nature but something to be 'more or less' genetically arranged according to personal
preference; homosexuality is an equal option for life
alongside marriage between a man and a woman; or again, there is no right and
wrong, there is no truth, it is only a matter of social or political
correctness and human upbringing; what used to be called ‘sin’ is but the
result of genetic disturbance; and human life has no other dignity than what we
accord it.
Dear People of God, life for us believers, is a wondrous mystery: what is its true meaning; has it an ultimate
purpose? Mysterious too are the
essential elements of life as we experience it:
what is love; how can one find happiness and peace of heart; why is life
so tasteless without hope; what is justice, where is truth?? Again, why do we feel, inside, that some
things are wrong; and why – having done such things, even though in secret --
do we feel disturbed, ill at ease, indeed, under threat??? Such mysterious questions as these are of
vital importance, because both reason and experience teach us that life is
problematical: money cannot buy happiness, worldly success or renown cannot
guarantee peace of heart, nor can present pleasure foster future hope.
Here then, as we begin the season of Advent, we are urged
by Mother Church to do some serious thinking.
We are bid look into our hearts to sound those hidden depths that we so
rarely penetrate in our everyday life and activity, for only there can we find some
appreciation and understanding of the mystery of our make-up as persons, as individuals
who have been made divinely special. For
all of us do believe that we are
special: none of us can tolerate injustice done against us, and we all hate
lies and love truth as they affect our lives.
Who is there that does not know that life inspires hope, while death, on
the other hand, provokes despair? Inexplicably, we feel ourselves made for life,
even though all things else are made and are content to die.
People of God, we Catholics are Christians -- the original and
authentic Christians -- called to bring the Gospel, the Good News, to the whole
world, throughout time. And the message
we are commissioned to bring is that Jesus Christ is the only answer to the
mystery of human existence and the supreme hope for our human destiny: He alone
can bring peace and hope into our hearts and minds, together with the strength
to live and love aright both in society and as individuals. Above all, we are to proclaim Jesus Christ as
the only One Who can raise us up to aspire to a heavenly destiny; one that will
be truly ours -- in and with Jesus, by His Spirit -- a destiny before God the
Father which will be the glorious and eternal fulfilment of all our
possibilities, powers, and longings. Our
teaching is certain and clear:
Jesus answered, "I am the
way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
(John 14:6)
I and My Father are One.
(John 10:30)
How those who say: “follow me; do what I am doing; listen
to me, I know”, how such people despise
their brethren! Why do I say
despise? Because they dare to imagine
that the miserable prospects they offer can possibly fulfil a human being:
pleasure, usually basic or even animal; success, though, even at its highest,
is only for a very short time and, of itself, has no moral value; popularity, which
-- basically shallow -- can only be sustained by craven conformity.
Jesus alone fully loves and truly appreciates us: He raises
us to a life that is eternal and sublimely beautiful, a love that is fulfilling
and divine. Indeed, He offers us a fulfilment that can penetrate to and
transfigure the hidden and most intimate depths of our human and personal being. That is why Catholics offer their whole selves to Jesus with no if’s and but’s: for example, when they
marry, they offer the whole of that marriage – for better for worse, humanly speaking -- to Jesus, in the
belief that, through Him and by the grace of His most Holy Spirit, their faithfully-lived
Christian union will serve their own eternal destiny, mankind’s continuity and growth,
and God’s loving plan of salvation for the world:
All things have been delivered to
Me by My Father. No one knows who the
Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and
those to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. (Luke 10:22)
Because the Father Who calls us to Jesus has committed all
things to Him, so we too, who answer the Father’s call and come to Jesus as His
disciples, commit all things to Him: there is nothing secret in our lives where He cannot enter, where He does
not rule. All ‘ours’, all of ‘us’, is
for Jesus so that in Him we might be totally for the Father, and that we might thus
come to find our eternal fulfilment in the glory and joy of His kingdom truth
and love.
To that end we live in accordance with the teachings of
Jesus and by His Spirit given us in Mother Church; for the Good News of Jesus comes
down to us through her proclamation and teaching in all its original fullness
of integrity and purity; and by her sacraments the Spirit of Jesus is sprinkled
in blessing upon all that we do and are: body and soul, mind and heart, work and
aspirations, yes and even our humiliations and sufferings endured for love of
Jesus.
In all such ways does God’s Providence and Love govern,
sustain, and guide our lives that we might ultimately be made able to humbly accept
and whole-heartedly embrace what is sure to come:
(You) will see the Son of Man coming in
a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look
up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.
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