1st Sunday of Advent: Jer 33.14-16; 1 Thes 3.12-4.2; Luke 21.25-28, 34-36
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St Paul Hospital and Church of the Incarnation
Be vigilant at all times and pray! Stay awake and pray! Look alive and pray! Be prepared and pray. The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill my promises, when I will give to my people the king they long for, the Son they need. Be vigilant against sloth, stand guard against vanity, beware of deception, easy compromise, weakened trust, diluted teachings, unjust law, and comfortable prophets preaching comfortable prophecy to comfortably bloated ears. If Advent doesn’t scare you, you ain’t paying attention!
Pay attention: “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill my promise…” Over the horizon, yet to arrive, are those days ahead of us when the Lord will make good on His promises to bring us back to Him, to rescue us from darkness and make us into children of the Light. He sent his prophets and His Law. We killed the first and violated the last. And grew no holier for our trouble. And the Lord grew no more patient. He promised Abraham children as crowded as the stars and He promised those children that He would never abandon them, never exile them, never punish them, never again start from scratch, hoping to replace them. Instead, He promised them a King and a Savior, a Lamb and a High Priest. He promised them a Son of Man and a Son of God, a single rescuer for all creation. One for us who is like us and who will make us like him, one with him, one like him, a single heart and mind, a single path, one goal, one road, two feet, and a promise from the mouth of God Himself: the days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made.
Jesus says to his disciples: “There will be signs […] 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…” What is coming upon the world? What, exactly, are we waiting for? If we wait for the Lord to fulfill His promise to the house of David to send the nations a savior, then we want for the arrival of the Messiah at the nativity feast. We wait for the coming of the Anointed One. If we wait for the Lord to give us a few more clues on the time and location of the Apocalyspe, then we wait in vain. In fact, we wait only anxiously—unbelieving and fretful—doubting the Lord’s promises and growing increasingly hostile and weak. The acid of impatience eats away at vigilance and loosens the ties that bind us together in love. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy! Be vigilant at all times and pray. The trials and obstacles wait for us. But so does the Lord. He is what is coming upon this earth, He is what we await.
Just getting through a day w/o adding one more anxiety, one more problem, one more distraction—how difficult! Does it seem to you that you collect worries and stress like couches collect dust bunnies? One more thing to burden you, one more thing to blow into your life and gather tension. You scramble, dodge, work fretfully, but one task done usually leads to two more that cause even more hassles! No doubt, “doing stuff” makes us feel productive. Being busy seems to add value to our lives, to give us a powerful feeling of accomplishment. In fact, and I hate to say it, I get more done when I am busy. But I’m all that much less peaceful. Not all that closer to God b/c of my scurrying around. Perhaps we should begin each task with this question: how will doing this job and finishing this job get me closer to God?
What does “be vigilant” mean in Irving, TX in the year 2006? At the very least it means handing over to God everything you have to worry about, everything you have to do, everyone who demands your time and attention, everyone who needs you now and tomorrow. It means consecrating your life to the service of the little ones—the poor, the abandoned, the neglected, the forgotten. It means watch the signs of the times and hope in Christ’s return. This is not about guessing games and biblical numerology—trying to figure out the date of Christ return. It is about paying attention to world events and watching for the providential hand of God in the events of the world.
If you were asked to note the Devil’s work in the world, could you identify it? Could you point to God’s work and tell us all how he has gifted you to contribute to the work of this Body, the Church? How much easier it is to read the papers and point out Satan’s victories—abortion, the destruction of marriage, terrorism, inter-religious competition and hatred, oppressive anti-Christian governments! Too much, too much. And, then again, not too much. Behold, I am coming soon!
We have one job in the Church: to be Christ for one another and for the world. We all do that job differently. Some as students, some as religious, some as priests, some as teachers, mothers, fathers, etc. Being Christ for one another and the Church is simply the practice of charity in all things, the activity of love and fertile joy. Not judgment or cruelty or moral nitpicking or gossiping or envying another’s gifts. Charity in all things—not always an easy job, right? Absolutely right! But vigilance in prayer and perseverance in faith will keep us awake and waiting for the coming of the Lord!
Paul writes to the Thessolonians: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all…” Here’s what’s scary about Advent: yes, the Lord is working to fulfill His promises, but the promise He made is the promise of change, of purification; He promises to love us regardless and we are radically transformed by Love focused in our souls. The advent of transforming Love is frightening…we will not be the same. Ever. And if we will come to Christ as children ready to be transformed, we will strengthen our hearts against the seductions of pop-culture, popular opinion, celebrity, the temptations of material excess, and the temptations of spiritual impoverishment. Our movies, our newspapers, our stars, our stuff, and the lightweight, spiritual-ly junk that we carry around will seduce us, reel us in and leave us disheveled, broke, embarrassed, and dirty. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy! The day of the Lord will surprise you like a trap.
Here’s how you can prepare for the coming of the Lord—ask yourself as you begin and complete each task of your day: how will doing this job and finishing this job get me closer to God? How will keeping to this hectic schedule get me closer to God? How will eight meetings, three appointments, two errands, and a flat tire get me closer to God? How will saying YES to every request for help, every demand for my time, every plea for collaboration get me closer to God?
Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to endure until the coming of the Lord. And when he does: stand up and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand!
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St Paul Hospital and Church of the Incarnation
Be vigilant at all times and pray! Stay awake and pray! Look alive and pray! Be prepared and pray. The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill my promises, when I will give to my people the king they long for, the Son they need. Be vigilant against sloth, stand guard against vanity, beware of deception, easy compromise, weakened trust, diluted teachings, unjust law, and comfortable prophets preaching comfortable prophecy to comfortably bloated ears. If Advent doesn’t scare you, you ain’t paying attention!
Pay attention: “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill my promise…” Over the horizon, yet to arrive, are those days ahead of us when the Lord will make good on His promises to bring us back to Him, to rescue us from darkness and make us into children of the Light. He sent his prophets and His Law. We killed the first and violated the last. And grew no holier for our trouble. And the Lord grew no more patient. He promised Abraham children as crowded as the stars and He promised those children that He would never abandon them, never exile them, never punish them, never again start from scratch, hoping to replace them. Instead, He promised them a King and a Savior, a Lamb and a High Priest. He promised them a Son of Man and a Son of God, a single rescuer for all creation. One for us who is like us and who will make us like him, one with him, one like him, a single heart and mind, a single path, one goal, one road, two feet, and a promise from the mouth of God Himself: the days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made.
Jesus says to his disciples: “There will be signs […] 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…” What is coming upon the world? What, exactly, are we waiting for? If we wait for the Lord to fulfill His promise to the house of David to send the nations a savior, then we want for the arrival of the Messiah at the nativity feast. We wait for the coming of the Anointed One. If we wait for the Lord to give us a few more clues on the time and location of the Apocalyspe, then we wait in vain. In fact, we wait only anxiously—unbelieving and fretful—doubting the Lord’s promises and growing increasingly hostile and weak. The acid of impatience eats away at vigilance and loosens the ties that bind us together in love. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy! Be vigilant at all times and pray. The trials and obstacles wait for us. But so does the Lord. He is what is coming upon this earth, He is what we await.
Just getting through a day w/o adding one more anxiety, one more problem, one more distraction—how difficult! Does it seem to you that you collect worries and stress like couches collect dust bunnies? One more thing to burden you, one more thing to blow into your life and gather tension. You scramble, dodge, work fretfully, but one task done usually leads to two more that cause even more hassles! No doubt, “doing stuff” makes us feel productive. Being busy seems to add value to our lives, to give us a powerful feeling of accomplishment. In fact, and I hate to say it, I get more done when I am busy. But I’m all that much less peaceful. Not all that closer to God b/c of my scurrying around. Perhaps we should begin each task with this question: how will doing this job and finishing this job get me closer to God?
What does “be vigilant” mean in Irving, TX in the year 2006? At the very least it means handing over to God everything you have to worry about, everything you have to do, everyone who demands your time and attention, everyone who needs you now and tomorrow. It means consecrating your life to the service of the little ones—the poor, the abandoned, the neglected, the forgotten. It means watch the signs of the times and hope in Christ’s return. This is not about guessing games and biblical numerology—trying to figure out the date of Christ return. It is about paying attention to world events and watching for the providential hand of God in the events of the world.
If you were asked to note the Devil’s work in the world, could you identify it? Could you point to God’s work and tell us all how he has gifted you to contribute to the work of this Body, the Church? How much easier it is to read the papers and point out Satan’s victories—abortion, the destruction of marriage, terrorism, inter-religious competition and hatred, oppressive anti-Christian governments! Too much, too much. And, then again, not too much. Behold, I am coming soon!
We have one job in the Church: to be Christ for one another and for the world. We all do that job differently. Some as students, some as religious, some as priests, some as teachers, mothers, fathers, etc. Being Christ for one another and the Church is simply the practice of charity in all things, the activity of love and fertile joy. Not judgment or cruelty or moral nitpicking or gossiping or envying another’s gifts. Charity in all things—not always an easy job, right? Absolutely right! But vigilance in prayer and perseverance in faith will keep us awake and waiting for the coming of the Lord!
Paul writes to the Thessolonians: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all…” Here’s what’s scary about Advent: yes, the Lord is working to fulfill His promises, but the promise He made is the promise of change, of purification; He promises to love us regardless and we are radically transformed by Love focused in our souls. The advent of transforming Love is frightening…we will not be the same. Ever. And if we will come to Christ as children ready to be transformed, we will strengthen our hearts against the seductions of pop-culture, popular opinion, celebrity, the temptations of material excess, and the temptations of spiritual impoverishment. Our movies, our newspapers, our stars, our stuff, and the lightweight, spiritual-ly junk that we carry around will seduce us, reel us in and leave us disheveled, broke, embarrassed, and dirty. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy! The day of the Lord will surprise you like a trap.
Here’s how you can prepare for the coming of the Lord—ask yourself as you begin and complete each task of your day: how will doing this job and finishing this job get me closer to God? How will keeping to this hectic schedule get me closer to God? How will eight meetings, three appointments, two errands, and a flat tire get me closer to God? How will saying YES to every request for help, every demand for my time, every plea for collaboration get me closer to God?
Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to endure until the coming of the Lord. And when he does: stand up and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand!
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