Finally here
we are: Advent season, a season of hope, and Hope is certainly the appropriate
feeling for this particular time in our American time. We are in the middle of
a new election cycle. Presidents come and go. Nations themselves rise and fall.
But Jesus Christ, the One who is the Eternal Word of the Father, the One who
entered into our history by becoming one of us, the One who is at the Right
Hand of the Father, Jesus Christ is forever. Only in God be at rest my soul, from him comes my hope, we pray in one
of the most beautiful psalms[1]...
Today’s Gospel
tells us that we need to hope, and we need to watch, however how can we watch if we are distracted? If our lives are
distracted we are not going to be ready when the Lord comes. If our hope is in
Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo, or any of the material goods of the world, if we
get caught up in the sickness of the world, if we use drink, sex and what have
you as a relief from our difficulties, we are not going to be ready for His
particular entrance into our lives.
What is it that you hope for, that
we hope for? We all hope for love. In one way or other, our heart is always
hoping for love and tenderness and affection. The young hope for a person they
can commit themselves to and grow in love. Beauty and virility will fade with
time. Only the sacrificial love of the Lord is forever. If the young place
their hope in the Lord, and are open to His Love, and live a life of
sacrificial love, giving themselves to others and rejecting all selfish
inclinations, they will be ready when God calls them to love through another
person.
We single people may not be called
to marriage but are called to expand the possibilities of making His Love real.
If we stay united to Him, and are open to Him, we will be ready to make His
love real, in ways we least expect. Life is beautiful when we hope in the Lord
and are ready for His call.
I am certain
that every single person can tell a story of how life has been enriched by
hoping in God and responding when He called. The married persons also are
continually called to grow in His Love. But it takes tremendous sacrifice. The
way of the Lord is the way of sacrificial love. You hope in the Lord. The
opportunity comes for you to express his love to your spouse.
Today we heard
the voice of the Lord: Be Watchful. Be Alert. None of us know what the Lord has in store for us. Will we be taking the
same courses next year, going to the same school, living in the same neighborhood,
doing the same job? We don’t know. Will our family be bigger or smaller? We
don’t know. Will we even be here in Texas, or here on earth? Whatever the year,
whatever our lives bring us, all will be wonderful, exciting, beautiful and
full of love, as long as our hope is in
the Lord.
Last Sunday we
celebrated the end of the liturgical year; endings are not always endings but
are opportunities for God to bring new beginnings, new hope. It is not that we
have possibility in ourselves, but that God is a God of new things and so all
things are possible[2].
Let us prepare the way of the Lord, let us repeat many times today the
responsorial psalm: Lord, make us turn to
you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.[3]
Advent is a time
of preparation for the coming of the Lord. How do we prepare ourselves? By
fervent and daily prayer, by being faithful to our commitments and state in
life, by practicing acts of self-denial, by carrying our cross daily, by
kindness towards others (especially members of our family), by avoiding all
sarcasm and unjust criticism of others.
Like the early
Christians, we should yearn for the coming of Christ. They prayed, "Come,
Lord Jesus!" Now he will come to us in this Mass, offering us his body and
blood in the Eucharist. Let us receive him with open hearts and dedicate
ourselves to him anew. If we can do that much, we will have accomplished in
some part what the Church bids us accomplish during this blessed Advent of
2011. Be prepared. The Son of Man is coming at the time you least expect. Come, Lord Jesus! ■
