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11/30/2008
ReadingsIsaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:33-37
St. Paul instructs the Corinthians at the beginning of his first letter to be prepared for the “day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:8), the day in which Christ will be revealed to all. In doing so, Paul is echoing the words of his Master, who urged us who never know when “the time will come” to “watch!” (cf. Mark 13:33). What is this “time”? It is the hour when the Lord will return in all his glory, signaling the end of this world and the beginning of the eternal “now” of union with God in heaven.
Traditionally, Advent is the season that reminds each person of the need for preparation Paul advised. At the dawn of the Church year, Advent is intended to awake the soul which has perhaps been slumbering since the great events of Easter. The Lord’s first coming at Christmas is the culmination of this season, and the Church wishes to prepare her children to celebrate this great feast faithfully. The Advent readings regarding the Lord’s second and glorious coming establish an intimate link between the two “comings” of the Lord. They are inseparable: one inaugurates the Messianic Age and the other concludes it. The great events of Christmas and the Second Coming impact all of creation. Yet each Christian’s life is a microcosm of salvation history. At baptism, the mystery of Christmas is celebrated in the life of the believer – Christ is born and makes his dwelling in a poor, pitiful manger. At death, the Lord is gloriously revealed, initiating a great judgement upon the person. Between these two events the drama of salvation is played out. Since no one knows the hour of their death, no one can know the moment when the Master will return to take an account of his household.
Fortunately for each believer, the Lord does not remain absent between baptism and death, between his humble incarnation and his glorious parousia; no, he visits each person in a multitude of ways. None are more significant than his coming to each one in the Holy Eucharist. This is the food that helps the disciple to have strength to “watch!” and be ready for the Lord’s return, allowing him to prepare the house of the soul for the coming of the Master. By coming into the soul, the Lord is able to work “awesome deeds we could not hope for, such as they had not heard of from of old”, ones which “no ear has ever heard [and] no eye ever seen” (Isaiah 64:2-3). And what is more awesome than the conversion of a soul from a slumbering state to one completely ready for the Lord’s coming? Watch!
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