FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
3 DECEMBER 2017
In
this new Liturgical Year, we hear from the Gospel according to Saint Mark. His audience would have been very interested
in the subject of the Second Coming of the Lord. Even more, they wanted to know when he would
come again. In response, Mark records
this parable of the gatekeeper. The master
who has traveled abroad is Jesus himself.
The servants whom he left in charge are his disciples. No one knows the time when the Lord will come
again. Instead of knowing the time of
the Second Coming, the disciples need to be alert and watchful.
Jesus tells
this parable just before the Passover which will begin his passion. The master who left on the journey gives each
of the servants a task to be accomplished, according to each one’s
abilities. The gatekeeper is to be
watchful for his return, alert that he may return during the non-working
hours: dinner, midnight, pre-dawn, and
early morning. Ironically, these are the
precise hours when the important events of Jesus’ passion would take
place. Just a few days later, he would
share a final meal with his disciples and give himself to them in the form of
bread and wine. At midnight, he would
ask Peter, James, and John to watch and pray during his agony. Instead of being alert, they will fall
asleep. When Jesus would be betrayed by
one of his closest friends in the garden, most of them would run away in fear. At cockcrow, Peter would abandon any idea of
being alert to Jesus and deny knowing him three times. In the morning, Jesus would be handed over to
Pontius Pilate to be condemned to death.
Instead of being alert to these crucial moments in their master’s
passion, they would be hiding.
We are the
servants whom the Lord has put in charge.
He has given each of us talents to be invested in his Kingdom. We do not know the time of his Second Coming,
either at the end of time or at the end of our lives. But he will come again, and he tells us that
we must be alert and watchful, especially at those times when we want to run
away from the implications of his passion.
We listen to him and feast on his Body and Blood at this Eucharist, the
Memorial of the Last Supper. We are sent
from this Eucharist to be watchful, especially in those dark moments when we
share in Christ’s agony and passion. We
must remain alert, even when we deny knowing Christ by our sinful actions. We remain alert when we are handed over to
carry some heavy cross that seems to crush us.
This is why
the Church gives us the Season of Advent.
It is easy to fall into a spiritual stupor and become so self-indulgent
that we do not consider the Lord’s presence in our daily lives. Advent reminds us that the Lord will come
again, and that we need to be alert and watchful. Being alert and watchful does not mean that
we lock ourselves up and huddle together in fear, worrying that some crazy
person will break in and start shooting at us.
Instead, we need to be attentive to one another during those darkest
times of our lives.
This Advent
is the shortest possible Season with only 22 days. The Fourth Sunday of Advent falls on
Christmas Eve. Ironically, we can miss
the opportunities to become more alert and watchful with our frantic efforts to
prepare to celebrate the Lord’s first coming at Christmas. Please take advantage of Advent. Take one of the books we offer for private
prayer. Come to Lessons and Carols on
Tuesday night. Go to the Sacrament of
Reconciliation sometime during this Season to confess those times we have
fallen into a spiritual stupor and focused only on ourselves. The Lord is coming again at some time which
we do not know. We need to be alert and
watchful, not living in fear and dread, but giving ourselves in prayer and
humble service. Even those who hid experienced another morning – the morning of
the Lord’s resurrection.
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