November 29th 2020. First Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL: Mark 13:33-37

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

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Mark 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Be watchful! Be alert!

You do not know when the time will come.

It is like a man traveling abroad.

He leaves home and places his servants in charge,

each with his own work,

and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.

Watch, therefore;

you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,

whether in the evening, or at midnight,

or at cockcrow, or in the morning.

May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.

What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'"

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

Kieran’s summary . . . The first reading from Isaiah is very beautiful and deserves to be read. In it we hear the cry of a people who are poor, miserable and oppressed. They have sinned and turned away from God, but now they know they need him and they call on him to come! This too is our cry! The issue is not about knowing when the Lord is going to come: the issue is being ready at all times to encounter that which is greater than us, that which is life-giving. Since the time of Adam and Eve, we have tried to have things under our control, but the coming of the Lord into our lives is completely in the hands of God. Waiting for the Lord and being vigilant for his coming is essential. Waiting, in fact, is an important part of life. From the waiting involved in pregnancy to the waiting involved in giving time to others, life calls us to forgo the things that we want to do right now. But our society is hooked on entertainment, distraction and ever-new escapes from reality. Satan is described in Revelation as the one who goes around in a fury because he knows he has little time. Time is a gift of God and we must use it to be obedient, to wait patiently, to look to the Lord, to be on our guard not to let the enemy enter. Those who do not know how to wait on the Lord are driven by appetites, impulses, and interior aggression. This Gospel tries to shake us out of our half-drugged coma in which we carry on, following ourselves and do not look to the Lord. Advent tells us that the King of kings is coming right to our homes and that we must be ready for him! When an important visitor comes, it is right that we get the place in order for him, that we throw out all that is incompatible with his presence.

The first reading from Isaiah is the cry of a people who have turned away from God and now realize that they are desperately in need of his visitation

The very important season of Advent begins, the start of a new liturgical year, and it is set in motion with a word of great beauty and appropriateness from chapter 63 of the prophet Isaiah. “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down . . .” Here is expressed the burning desire of a people to be visited by God. This part of the book of Isaiah was written in the period after the exile. The people were poor, miserable and oppressed. “Return for the sake of your servants!” the reading says. “Once you did marvels for us that we did not expect. No eye has seen, no ear has heard any God but you perform such deeds”. This is the recollection by a people in a state of misery of the wonderful deeds the Lord once did for them. But they have not been mindful of the Lord. They have squandered the gift of faith that was given to them. Having brought evil upon themselves, they now are in need of the visitation of God. Various verses from the cry of this poor people, as expressed in chapters 63 and 64 of Isaiah, are put together in our first reading on Sunday.

The issue is not knowing when the Lord will come: the issue is being always ready in life to encounter what is greater than us, to encounter the in-breaking of God into our lives.

How should we welcome the Lord who comes to visit us? Advent tells us that the Lord is not distant in the heavens while we try to get by on earth. This season announces that He is coming to meet us. It is important to be ready and to be free from the wrong sort of expectations. In the Gospel, Jesus says, "Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.” We could reply: “Tell us when you are coming, Lord, so that we can be ready for you”. But the problem is not that the Lord comes without warning: the issue at the heart of being vigilant is a different matter altogether. We are called as a people to be always ready to encounter that which is greater than we are. But we try to flee from this situation. Since the time of Adam and Eve we have sought the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We wish to know everything that relates to our own destiny and we pretend to be able to keep our lives within the control of our own schemes. But this is not possible! We simply must recognize that we have no other option than to be ready for the unexpected, to be prepared for the occurrence of the sublime, of that which is outside of our control. As the Gospel says, our gatekeeper must be on the look-out. A building without a doorman is liable to have strangers entering and wandering around the house without the owner’s consent. In life, we all have need of a gatekeeper who is constantly on guard. When we are on guard, we can prevent the enemy, deceit, and treachery from entering in. It is essential that we all be vigilant.

Life involves having the ability to wait, the ability to give one’s time up for others and the Lord. Satan is the one who cannot wait because he is so preoccupied with his own schemes

Waiting might seem like a frustrating business, but without waiting there is no life! Pregnancy is a time of waiting. Life involves having the ability to wait. Some people are capable of waiting and giving their time to people, whilst others are impatient. It is interesting that in the book of Revelation, chapter 12, the devil is defined as the one who is full of fury because he knows he has little time. But none of us have our own time in reality because time is made by God. It is not necessary for us to have time but to be obedient to time, obedient to reality. Those who are not obedient to time, those who do not know how to wait, are driven by impulses and appetites and interior aggression. The text tells us to be vigilant at evening, at midnight, at cockcrow and in the morning, the four classic watches of the night when the changing of the guard used to happen. The sentries must always be ready because life is important!

This Gospel tries to shake us out of our half-drugged coma in which we go from one distraction to another, one entertainment to another. This Advent we are called to empty ourselves of those things that are incompatible with our Lord, who is on his way to us very soon

This passage calls us to stop going on in an unthinking daze. Don’t forget, we live in a society hooked on entertainment, diversions, distractions. Our society is, as it were, in a half-drugged coma, constantly looking for new escapes from reality. Advent is the marvellous announcement of the visitation by God, a fact that requires us to have our feet soundly planted in reality. We are called to live in a way that is attentive to life, that is in harmony with what is essential, ready for the visit of our Master who is coming again. He will come again! And when he comes it will be beautiful to be with him. Advent is an illuminating time. It is not a sad time. It is indeed a time of penitence, certainly it is! Everything that is incompatible with the coming of the Lord must be thrown away. The more the better. There is nothing surprising about that. When someone important comes to our house, we get the place in order before he arrives. Let us prepare ourselves for the Lord’s visit because the King of kings is coming right to our door!