December 1^st 2019. First Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL: Matthew 24:37-44

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Matthew 24, 37-44

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it be when the Son of Man comes. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept all away. It will be like this when the Son of Man comes. Then of two men in the fields one is taken, one left; of two women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left.

‘So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel, Jesus mentions the flood at the time of Noah. The fact is that many floods are necessary in the life of each one of us. Many things need to be washed away at regular intervals so that the Lord can enter our lives more fully and we can make a new beginning. In our society today, we are obsessed by physical beauty, nutrition, wellbeing and self-referential “romantic” relationships. If my life is of this sort, then my own ego is the master of my house. Then, when the Son of Man comes, when a crisis occurs, I will have difficulty coping. I will be like the people at the time of Noah who are swept away by the impending disaster. Jesus says, “The Son of Man is coming like a thief at a time you do not expect”. But if I make Jesus the master of my house, then he will not come like a thief. No thief steals from his own house! I am called to renounce possessions, projects, and the tyranny of my own ego. I am called to permit Jesus to be the master of my life and my world. When Jesus is master, then I am always ready to interrupt my projects or activities, to change direction and rethink my plans, in order to follow the one and only master of my life.

Today, the world that needs to be washed away by the “flood” is our obsession with physical wellbeing, beauty and self-referential relationships

Noah must have seemed crazy to his neighbours - building a huge ship in the mountains! But this strange project became something that saved. In the Gospel, Jesus says that in "the days of Noah" people "ate and drank, took wives and took husbands". What is so strange about that? What should a normal person do? People eat and marry. The same anthropology is around today: bodily needs and affective satisfactions are the main theme. What else should people be concerned about? At the present time, our society is obsessed with the wellbeing of the body. We are fixated with physical beauty and nutrition. There is a huge emphasis on affective and sexual freedoms. Yet none of this had led to greater happiness! At the time of Noah "they noticed nothing until the flood came and swept away all away". Only Noah, the half idiot, was saved. Only he was aware of the impending disaster. What does it mean? That we have to build crazy boats instead of focussing on beauty, nutrition and romantic relationships? In a way, yes!

Too often, my ego is the master of my world. When divine providence knocks on my door, if a crisis happens, I go into meltdown. This is the Son of Man coming like a thief to wipe away the rubbish from my life. But if I make Jesus the master of my life, then he will not come like a thief, because he already owns my house!

The Lord is asking each of us to build a boat to save us from a different type of flood. It is necessary that every now and then the things that are non-essential in our lives are washed away. The Son of Man can be described as a thief who comes and wipes away everything, but he is a thief for some and not for others. When is Jesus not a thief? He is not a thief if we have allowed him to be the master of our lives! The problem is that very often my own ego is the master of my world. Then, when the Lord’s Providence and knocks on the door sends something serious my way, I am upset, impoverished and anguished.

When the Son of Man comes we must be ready to leave everything. This is a characteristic of someone who has allowed Jesus to be his only master: he is always ready to give up his own projects, his own possessions, his own activities, in order to follow what the Lord is setting before us.

We are not the true masters of anything, except our freedom to say "yes" or "no" to the Lord. If a person’s life is centered on his own ego, then everything in his life is “his” - “his” wife, “his possessions”. Such a person is not pleasant to be with. It is not easy to talk to such a person about Christ, who says: "This is my body given for you". Such talk will seem like the talk of the half-fool Noah. For St. Francis of Assisi, in fact, possession is the opposite of love. Whoever belongs to Christ has discovered that he himself is not the master of his own life. He allows the Lord to take him and use him, to call him away from his own projects and fixations, to make him change his life. When we belong to Christ, we know how important it is to be ready  to change direction, to know how to rethink our plans, to stop whatever we are doing. It is said that sometimes rigid perseverance can be diabolical. "Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect " We must be ready for what? To leave everything we have or are doing, keeping in mind who our real Master is.