1st Sunday of Advent (B) “Getting Ready for the Passage”
Msgr. Thomas Gervasio
A new Church year begins. The season of Advent not only prepares us to celebrate the coming of the Lord in Bethlehem but also for his coming at the end of time. This is why the Gospel given for our meditation today is one in which Our Lord describes God is a thief. It is not our usual image of God, but it is a useful one.
Just as we never know when a thief arrives, we do not know the day or the circumstances of our death, a reality each of us will face. Even though our faith assures us that death is a passage to new life, no one is anxious to make the passage. A child wrote this letter to God: “Dear God, what is it like when a person dies? Nobody will tell me. I don’t want to DO it; I just want to KNOW. I like the way that great theologian, Wood Allen put it, “It’s not that I am afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
The Lord understands this fear in each of us, so he urges us to be vigilant, alert, prepared, watchful. For a disciple this means to be in the state of grace, that is, in friendship with God. The season of Advent is an invitation to put things in proper perspective. If God is to come as Judge and at a time we least expect, then in life we must strive to distinguish between what is priceless and what is worthless, between what is eternal and what is fleeting. This is serious stuff. What was said of St. Anthony the Abbot should be said of us: “He endeavored each day to present himself as the sort of person ready to appear before God.”
We should not live in a frantic fear nor a suspended idleness. Our life’s program is the Gospel. Our tools are the sacraments. Advent urges us not to drift along. It is a season that seeks to shake us from our spiritual apathy. Devote some extra time to personal prayer, the reading of scripture, the rosary, daily Mass. Consider getting to that confession so long put off.
Fr. Henri Nouwen wrote a very realistic prayer—a prayer that faces up to our need to be ready, to prepare for that all important moment when the Lord calls us: “O Lord, when shall I die? I do not know, and I hope it will not be soon. Not that I feel so attached to this life—I might be more attached to it than I realize—but I feel so unprepared to face you I feel that by letting me live a little longer, you reveal your patience, you give me yet another chance to convert myself, you offer me more time to purify my heart. Time is your gift to me…Let my time here be a time of change, a change to inner tranquility, deep trust in your forgiveness and mercy, and complete surrender to you. Thank you, Lord, for every day that you give me to come closer to you. Thank you for your patience and goodness. I pray that when I die, I will be at peace. Hear my prayer. Amen.
