Christ the Cornerstone

Stay awake! Prepare for the Lord’s coming again this Advent

“Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come” (Mt 24:43-44).

Yesterday, we observed the great American holiday of Thanksgiving. Once each year, we pause and give thanks for all our blessings as individuals, families and as a nation. We acknowledge our country’s many failings and shortcomings, but we pray that God will continue to bless us and give us the grace we need to achieve true peace with justice, equality for all, and the dignity and respect that is due to every person that seeks a better life for her or his family here in this beloved country of ours.

Now we turn our attention to the promised return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We call this season of the Church’s year “Advent” because it is a time of anticipation and preparation for the Lord’s coming again.

One of the great paradoxes of our faith is the “both/and” celebrated during this holy season. We Christians believe that Jesus is both present and coming. He is with us now in his word, in the sacraments (especially the holy Eucharist), and in our encounters with our brothers and sisters in charity and service. But we also long for the Lord’s return in glory, and although we do not know the day or time, we earnestly pray for the grace to be ready when he comes at the end of time.

Advent celebrates this “both/and” of Jesus’ presence among us and his longed-for return. It reminds us of how the people of Israel longed for the coming of the Messiah, and it boldly proclaims the words of the prophets which foretell the magnificent changes that will take place once the Lord establishes his kingdom once and for all.

As we hear Isaiah proclaim in the first reading for the First Sunday of Advent:

In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it; many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against ­another, nor shall they train for war again. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord! (Is 2:2-5)

The peace that we long for—in Ukraine, in other war-torn areas of the world and right here in our own communities—is promised us by Isaiah and all the prophets down to St. John the Baptist. But it comes with a warning: We must stay awake and be ready.

Since we don’t know when Jesus will return, readiness for his return requires constant vigilance. We cannot afford to drift off into the sleep of indifference or to become preoccupied with our own comfort and entertainment. Worse, we dare not allow the differences among us to break us into warring factions, or we will be distracted by our feuding and disagreements and fail to prepare our hearts for the One who comes as the Prince of Peace.

The Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Advent makes this clear:

Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. (Mt 24:42-44)

The season of Advent helps us to stay awake and be prepared. It provides us with Scripture readings that are filled with anticipation and hope; it delights us with music and symbols that vividly remind us of what we hope for during this holy time; and it sounds the alarm—Stay awake!—whenever we become drowsy or inattentive to the voices of the prophets as they herald the Lord’s coming.

A blessed and hope-filled Advent to all! †