Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent C:
A CALL TO VIGILANCE, PURITY AND HOLINESS.
Outline
1. Summary of ideas of today’s readings
With Advent, we begin a new liturgical year and cycle, and at the same time, we prepare to commemorate the first coming of Christ, as described in the 1st reading:
→ The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: “The Lord our justice.” Jer 33:14–16
Our time here on earth is for us a calling to embark with joyful hope for His second coming at the end of time, as we profess in the Creed: “And he shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.”
→ The definitive and glorious coming of Our Lord is described with cosmic events in today’s Gospel: “Jesus said to his disciples: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 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. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” Lk 21:25–28.
2. Advent, a renewed encounter with Our Lord.
The Advent season presents to us an occasion to a renewed encounter with Our Lord Jesus Christ, who keeps on coming to meet us in His Word, in the Eucharist, and in our brothers. It is a calling:
→ to lift our soul to the Lord (cfr. Responsorial Psalm);
→ to “increase and abound in love for one another and for all”
→ “to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.” (2nd Reading, 1 Thes 3:12–4:2)
→ freeing our soul from vices, worldy concerns and sensual pleasures, we prepare ourselves for His Second Coming, whose day nor hour, we do not know: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.” Lk 21: 34-36
3. What are we willing to do to live this Advent well?
Dear brethren in Christ, with the above-mentioned ideas, we can ask ourselves how we shall live this season of Advent so that it be a well-lived opportunity to prepare our hearts to commemorate Our Lord’s Nativity. How?
The opening prayer gives us the answer upon asking God the Father: Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom.
With righteous deeds, more precisely, to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds. Are we willing to do what we have asked Our Lord? What righteous deeds can we offer Him out of love? The desire to do what is good at all times, but a real desire which is converted into deeds.
→ Are you in the state of grace? If not, go to Confession to have Jesus in your soul.
→ How is your prayer and sacramental life? What could you do in order to grow in them?
→ What is your dominant defect? Pride, laziness, lust, anger, vanity, gluttony, envy? What are you willing to do about it, again for love of God?
→ How do you treat the people around you? Do you make them happy? Are you enclosed in your own world, living as if others do not exist?
→ Are you addicted to something which separates you from God and from others? It may be your smartphone, the use of internet,…and so on.
As Pope Benedict XVI said:
“Today the word of God calls us to this, outlining the lines of conduct we should follow to be ready for the Lord’s Coming. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says to the disciples: “take heed… lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life… at at all times, praying” (Lk 21:34, 36). Therefore, moderation and prayer. And the Apostle Paul adds the invitation to “increase and abound in love” among ourselves and for everyone, to make our hearts blameless in holiness (cf. 1 Thess 3:12-13).
In the midst of the upheavals of the world or in the deserts of indifference and materialism, may Christians accept the salvation from God and bear witness to it with a different way of life, like a city set upon a hill. “In those days”, the Prophet Jeremiah announced, “Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: The Lord is our righteousness” (33:16). The community of believers is a sign of God’s love, of his justice which is already present and active in history but is not yet completely fulfilled and must therefore always be awaited, invoked and sought with patience and courage. Angelus, 1st Sunday of Advent 2012.”
Let us heed Our Lord’s call to vigilance, purity and holiness, “as we await with joyful hope the coming of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.” Let us put into effect what we prayed in the opening prayer: Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom.
Mother Mary and St. Joseph, help us!
God bless you and your family. Fr. Rolly Arjonillo.
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Thanks and God bless you and your loved ones! Fr. Rolly Arjonillo.