by Fr Joachim Robert
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 24:4-5,8-9,10,14
1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28,34-36
Theme: Grow in Love and Holiness
Dear friends,
As we begin this First Sunday of Advent, we begin this journey or this pilgrimage with expectant faith for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
And on this first week of Advent and the candle which we have lit just now was a candle of HOPE. But amidst lighting this candle, we look at the Gospel today where we see frightening signs and images, confusing situations and chaos, a world or a future of destruction. And what do we do? We light the candle.
And this sometimes, dear friends, may give us mixed feelings, rather than we fix the problems that is around us or should we go down on our knees and light the candle, asking God to help us? So sometimes we can find ourselves in this confusing situation.
And every day perhaps we are confronted with situations like this, each and every moments of our lives. Because all around us there seem to be chaos, tribulations, war, famine and personally, in our own family life, there can be disagreements, feuds, disillusionment of what we should do as a family.
And when we are confronted with all of these, dear friends, what will be our response?
And the natural response will be is that we feel overwhelmed, that we are not able to move forward, we are not able to find hope amidst all these challenging situation and confusing situation and we think that the end of the world is near.
And sometimes what is more exciting is when we look at all the situations around us which is gloomy, we go and say that the end of the world is near and there is a lot of fake news being spread that the end is coming. And I am sure that all of us are part and parcel of sending messages after messages when certain things happen.
And recently with the flood up North, there has been so many messages of telling us what has happened and how the flood situation has been. And that story of gloom perhaps is being spread everywhere and we can get into this situation of passing and passing and passing on fake news or bad news.
Or we can respond concretely in a positive way. So I would like to highlight two ways of how do we usually respond.
And the first thing is when we get panicked and when the situation is dark, we have this tendency in us sometimes to make the situation even darker. And when there is confusion, we add more and more into the confusion that is present or negativity to the situation that is already so, so negative.
But what would be our Christian response?
And our Gospel today invites us and tells us:
Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.
Because if you go back to the First Reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, he says:
See, the days are coming, it is the Lord who speaks, when I am going to fulfil the promise I made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah: In those days and that time, I will make a virtuous Branch grow for David.
And this, dear friends, is a message of HOPE. A different way of how we should or ought to be dealing with the situation that is around us, the gloomy situation. But it demands us, as Christians, a different approach, a different way of relating, a different way of engaging.
HOPE, dear friends, does not come from situations in life that are only good. Very often we find true hope when we know Jesus is with us, Jesus is near us and He will come and make the situation right. And that is our Christian hope, dear friends, that whatever circumstances that we are confronted with, we can move forward, trusting that God is there with us.
How do we respond?
It is our choice and nobody can make us make the choices that we don’t want to make. And true HOPE is the grace that we need to pray for, especially during this time of Advent.
But how can we respond with concrete concrete actions in our daily life?
Because as you see, the Gospel as well, Jesus highlights:
Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life that the day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap.
If we don’t pay attention and we are not alert of where we are in our relationship with God, dear friends, then we can move in this slippery slope of being disillusioned and responding in the way of how the world would respond – with total chaos, feeling overwhelmed and feeling confused.
And how do we respond?
There are three ways of how we can respond – P L S.
So the first thing is PRAYER (P). When we respond into this situation or the scenarios that is around us, trusting that God is bigger than our problems. And when we are able to confront those situations in prayer, asking God to intercede for us, asking God to lead us forward in and through those moments, we become stronger.
We become courageous and we get connected with this God who wants what is best in us. And by connecting to God, dear friends, we have reason and that is an act of HOPE, when we put ourselves on our knees, trusting in God’s providence over our lives.
And the second thing that we need to do, dear friends, is to LOVE (L). And Saint Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians tells us:
May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you.
Love always makes us vigilant.
For example, dear friends, when a parent sees a child who is sick, very often what they do is they stay awake. They want to ensure that the child is taken care of, that the fever doesn’t go beyond and it doesn’t reach a danger level and giving them medication. And when we love, dear friends, we become vigilant.
On the other hand, sometimes we see our parents at night walking here and there, confused or perhaps not being able to sleep, those who tells us as children that something is wrong. And when we know and acknowledge that something is wrong, and that we need to watch out for the signs that is around us, then we become vigilant because we love.
If we love, dear friends, in our own interior life we become vigilant because of our deep love for God.
And the third thing is that we need to SOAK (S) in God’s word, to allow ourselves to be immersed with the Word of God, allowing Him to speak to us through the scriptures and to see where we are in our relationship with God.
So as we prepare ourselves, dear friends, for this time of Advent, let us restore our HOPE in this God who loves us, in Jesus who allows us and gives us every reason to HOPE because He has conquered the world.
And as we prepare ourselves in the remaining days, in the first week, second week, third week of Advent, let us pray that we may be vigilant because Jesus is with us, Jesus is our Hope, Jesus is our all.
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