Joy and Repentance

2nd Sunday of Advent
Dec. 9, 2012
(Lk 3:1-6)

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

John the Baptist is a key figure of the Advent Season. He was the herald of the Lord Jesus. His task was to prepare the people of Israel for the Lord's coming - for the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. We are fortunate to have St. John the Baptist as a model in our Advent preparation. As he wanted to prepare the people of his time for Jesus' coming, we also wish to prepare ourselves now for the Lord's second coming. And hopefully, this Advent Season may remind us of the importance of always being prepared for the Lord's coming, whatever liturgical season it may be.

John the Baptist prepared the people for Jesus through a baptism of repentance. Truly, sin hinders our openness to God who is coming to us. So it was repentance that John called for so that the people of Israel would be ready and open to the message that Jesus was about to proclaim. Today the Church also calls us to repentance and conversion - our proper preparation for the "end of the world" or for the Lord's coming. For the Lord will come to judge us according to our faithfulness.

The words of Isaiah are echoed by John: "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low." Yes, the Lord's coming demands such a radical change. The mountains and hills of sin and secular worries must be made low. They should be brought to level ground so that justice may reign in us. The valleys - the laziness and the refusal to follow God's law of love - should be filled in with charity, with virtues, and especially with the adherence to the beatitudes of Jesus. This is authentic repentance and conversion! We should not stop with mere sorrow for our sins and failures. We must come to Jesus in Confession and strive, through divine grace, to amend our lives, keeping the faith until He comes again.

We know that the Lord will be coming, yet we do not know when He will come. For all we know, He might come again during Ordinary Time! Therefore, the call to repentance, to turn away from sin and to practice charity is a call that we must answer everyday. We know that when Jesus comes, He will bring salvation to His faithful ones. Therefore, we must always remain faithful and as much as we can, with God's grace, never falter in our Christian living even for a moment. For all we know, that one moment when we become unfaithful might be the last moment we have.

True, Advent is a time of joyful expectation. But it is also true that it is a penitential season, though not as much as Lent is. We are joyful because we have that "blessed hope" that Jesus will surely come to bring us salvation. But we must also be repentant, mindful that Jesus will come as our Judge and Savior.

Vigilance of Faith

1st Sunday of Advent
Dec. 2, 2012
(Lk 21:25-28, 24-36)

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.

"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.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man."

At the very beginning of our liturgical calendar, the Gospel reminds us of the end. People often sensationalize discussions about the end of the world. Some panic about it, saying that it is near; some want to find out when it will exactly be, through science. As Christians, should we not listen to what our Lord Jesus had to say about the ends times? Jesus reminds us in our Gospel today: "Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand." This is the proper Christian response to the idea of the end of the world: a joyful expectation of the redemption that the Lord Jesus will fulfill in us. This is precisely what Advent is all about.

Advent, being a preparation for the Solemnity of Christmas, also leads us to reflect on the Lord's Second Coming, an event which we should be prepared for - always! This season, therefore, is not just a season of preparation. Advent is a reminder that preparation is necessary every day of our lives! For Jesus came and He will come again.

But again, Jesus reminds us of the kind of preparation we must make. He warns us not to embrace the pleasures of the world nor be too engrossed with the anxieties of daily life. We often struggle to get all that we want here on earth - pleasure, power, money and everything else we can get - and then to keep them for ourselves for as long as we want them. The prevalent idea is: "The world will end so we must do everything we want. We must achieve everything we can." As Christians, our idea is: "The world will end, so we cling to Him who does not end - God." Of course, Jesus does not want us to forget our duties. What Jesus wants is that we live here on earth with our minds and hearts ready for heaven - for eternity.

The proper preparation for the Lord's Coming is the keeping of our faith in Him. With the vigilance of faith, we continue to know, celebrate and obey God in our daily living, even as we await His Coming. When we live without faith, in sin or in apathy towards God, only then do we fear the end of the world, because we would have nothing to cling to. But when we strive to keep our faith and pray for the increase of our faith, we become more and more prepared to meet the Lord, and less afraid of the end of the world. We can only "stand erect" on that day if we know that we are ready to receive the fullness of redemption that Jesus brings.

As we begin the season of Advent, we light candles on the Advent wreath. The light of the candles increase gradually as we light one more candle every week, symbolizing that the light increases as our Lord comes. May that light also symbolize our faith, ever alive and ever increasing, through God's grace!

Steadfast Waiting

1st Sunday of Advent Nov. 29, 2009 (Lk 21:25-28, 34-36)

"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."

"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. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."

We begin our Liturgical Year with the Season of Advent. Advent means "coming". In this season, we reflect on the coming of Christ. We prepare for the second coming of the Lord at the end of time, as we remember how He came to us in time, as a child, some twenty centuries ago. Advent, therefore, is a season of waiting. We wait for the coming of Jesus in our hearts and as judge at the end of time.

We are living in between Christ's coming two thousand years ago and His coming at the end of time. The early Christians used to cry, "Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!". But now, more than two thousand years after, that cry seems to be getting softer and softer. Christianity has survived through time, but the longing for the return of Christ seems to be weakening. Faith has become limited to just admitting that there is a God. People attend Mass as if it were a program. They stand, sit and speak whenever needed, but do not pray. We no longer nourish our souls, as we are too busy with worldly affairs.

This is what Jesus warns us about. We must not be too preoccupied with the anxieties of life. All these things to which we give value will all disappear anyway. They are ephemeral. And the tasks that we are so busy with are not as important compared to the task Jesus expects us to do - steadfast waiting. Jesus expects us to be steadfast in faith, hope and love. He expects us to follow His teachings and to hold on to His words. He expects us not to belong to the world. He expects us not just to wait, but to be loyal Christians while we wait for Him. This is what steadfast waiting means.

In the Second Reading, St. Paul says that we ought to be holy before God. He exhorts us to live in a manner pleasing to God. A life of holiness entails imitating Christ, living according to how Christ taught us to live. This life is characterized by a steadfast faith that consists in knowing, loving and serving God. Our faith should be active, producing fruit, not only in our lives, but also in the lives of those around us.

As Christians, we should realize that the happiness this world offers is never permanent. Hence, we must not burden ourselves with the pursuit of these things, to the extent that we forget to prepare for the life beyond this world. If we hold on to the things of this world, Jesus warns us that the day of judgment shall catch us unprepared, by surprise, like a trap.

Jesus said to Martha, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed" (Lk 10:41-42). He makes the same exhortation to us today. "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life."

At the end of time, when there shall be tribulation, we cannot hold on to the things we own, nor to the things we have accomplished. We can only hold on to the fact that we have become faithful. With this steadfast faith, we shall have the confidence to face the Son of Man, the assurance that we shall belong to those whose redemption is at hand. We shall be able to stand erect and raise our heads.