“Stay Awake”
Last week, the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe ended the Church year. The new one begins with the First Sunday in Advent. Society is gearing up for Christmas and many messages around us are to do with spending money and making every effort to enjoy ourselves as much as possible.
Well, I hope I am not a kill-joy. I am certainly looking forward to Christmas. But our faith provides us with the season of Advent in which to prepare for Christmas and to make every effort to put Jesus Christ at the centre of our celebrations.
In fact the readings this week give us clear warnings: in the Letter of St Paul to the Romans, we are told, “You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.” This is a call to give up all the things that are not of God, and to focus our lives again on living the life God has called us to.
I especially like St Paul’s way of expressing things. He says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This might make of us think of putting on clothes. Certainly it reminds us that we need to make a conscious effort and decision to follow the Lord.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus also issues a warning. “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” So Paul, one of the greatest saints in the Church and now Jesus himself, are telling us to wake from sleep and to stay awake. We might think that somehow this is just an Advent message about Christmas.
However, we are at the start of a new Church Year and this is a good time for resolutions and for answering the age-old cry of God, “Come back to me.” Advent is a time of great promise as well as great warning. The prophet Isaiah encourages the people that the house of the Lord will be established as the highest of the mountains.
A familiar image of Advent is the coming of light. Isaiah says, “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” If we stay awake, we will receive the light of Christ, not just at Christmas, but in the year ahead as well.
God bless, Fr Kevin.
