Be awake, Jesus is coming to our lives
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Here is a quiz for you. You are sleeping. You are dreaming. A big lion is chasing you. You try to run away and you see a tiger coming in front of you. You turn sideways, but every side you turn to, you find a ferocious animal coming after you. How can you escape? The answer is: Wake up.
By waking up one enters a whole new world of reality, different from that of the dream world. What was a huge problem in the dream state becomes a non-issue in the waking state. Dream state concerns and priorities lose their importance and new concerns and priorities take their place. For example, you discover that your problem is no longer how to escape from wild beasts but how to beat the morning rush and arrive early for work. We can relate to the change that occurs between a dream consciousness and a wake consciousness. A similar and even more significant change occurs when we move from a state of being spiritually asleep, drowsy to that of being spiritually awake, when the soul is awake and alert to spiritual reality.
In today’s gospel Jesus admonishes and encourages his followers to remain alert in the spirit. Be vigilant at all times and pray. He was about to leave them for an uncertain length of time. By their faith and commitment to Jesus, his followers are like people who have roused themselves from spiritual slumber. But the time of his absence would be a time of trial for their faith life when they would be tempted to doze off. He enjoins them to remain awake and watchful so that whenever he comes to them he would find them not sleeping but watching in faith, ready to welcome him.
During this advent preparations to welcome Jesus do just some little thing in their small corner of the world to make a difference. To spread our little light, in the darkness where we live.
I have heard the story of a wise old Rabbi who instructed his students by asking questions. He asked, "How can a person tell when the darkness ends and the day begin?" After thinking for a moment, one student replied, "It is when there is enough light to see an animal in the distance and be able to tell if it is a sheep or a goat." Another student ventured, "It is when there is enough light to see a tree, and tell if it is a fig or an oak tree."
The old Rabbi gently said, "No. It is when you can look into a man's face and recognize him as your brother. When you can look into a woman’s face and recognize her as your sister. For if you cannot recognize in another's face the face of your brother, your sister, the darkness has not yet begun to lift, and the light has not yet come."
This is the first Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Expectation and Hope. Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. --G.K. Chesterton.
Late Pope John Paul II in his Easter message of 1986, said, "The last word of God on the human condition is not death, but life; not despair, but hope. To this hope the Church invites the men and women of today as well.”
There is a difference between optimism and hope.
Optimism is a cheap substitute for the Christian virtue of hope. The optimist tends to believe that everything in this world is wonderful, or at least that troublesome situations can be resolved with a little ingenuity. The optimist does not live in reality; rather his vision is clouded by the delusion that every house really does have a white picket fence around it.
Those who live the Christian virtue of hope are the realists. These people understand that the world is filled with many colors and dimensions, some beautiful, some not. They realize that this world is not a paradise, but they have the strength, the energy, and the vision to make it a better place for everyone.
However, hope does provide us with the certainty that this life does have meaning. Hope allows us to smile, to laugh, to sing, and to develop the resources of this world in order to alleviate suffering and despair. Hope provides people with the spiritual energy and the ability to realize their dreams.
When we truly live the Christian virtue of hope, we enter into a new relationship with life itself. Because we have a personal relationship with Jesus, life becomes new. Life is clad with a new loveliness, a new light and a new strength.
When we meditate upon the Incarnation, when we look at it, it shows us that we are going to be helped by God's powerlessness - not by God's power. "It is not just that God is, but that God comes." The Christmas Story tells of God coming to earth as a child. To do so was for the powerful to become powerless. The willingness to be at-one-with. That's what incarnation means - God is at-one-with us.
That is the secret of caring - willing to be at-one-with. Theillard de Chardin wrote that - "The world belongs to those who will have brought the greatest hope."
When we are in the pitch of life, think of the mountain waiting for us. Life is full of ups and downs. If there is no pitch then there are no heights. If there is no sadness in your lives you may not enjoy the joyful moments in your life.
"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy’" (LUKE 21: 35). As disciples of the Lord we have so many ways to be drowsy. We can sleep by putting off the sacrament of confession. We can sleep by not committing ourselves to a life of prayer. We can sleep by giving in to the temptations of secularism. We can sleep by "not being too hard on ourselves". We can sleep by being satisfied with being "good people" rather than striving for sanctity. We can sleep by rationalizing our own sloth and laziness. We can sleep by dulling our conscience. We can blame the authorities and church and forget about our spiritual life. Remember Jesus said “that day catch you by surprise like a trap” (Luke 21:34)
The penitential aspect of Advent is almost completely lost in today’s post-Christian, consumer-driven society. The thought of Advent often brings to mind a whirlwind of Christmas parties, decorations and getting ready for “Santa.” And in the midst of all this we often forget the very reason for these externals: Christ the Lord is coming! If we do not prepare ourselves spiritually for his arrival, we could make the same mistake as the people in Bethlehem who not only missed his coming, but actually rejected him.
How often as children were we told that we “better watch out, better not cry, better not pout, I’m telling you Why”? And how often do we tell it one way or another to our own children or hearing it on the radio hum along and be reminded of Christmases past? But remember, it isn’t just Santa Claus who is coming to town. Jesus our Life-giver is coming and we must prepare by strengthening our hearts with love for one another and for all.