The Advent Season reminds Christians who wait for the return of their Lord that his coming is ever nearer. It is a season of double expectation: the commemoration of the first coming of the Messiah celebrated at Christmas, and the preparation for his second coming. Among many themes from today’s liturgy of the word, we would like to focus on the pressing call to rise from distracted and compromising life in the darkness, to be vested in Christ in the Gospel values, in light.
In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah’s vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem reveals the vocation of all humanity to be gathered together on the Mountain of the Lord. Although Sion, the Mountain of the Lord, is far from being the highest mountain geographically, it hosts the temple of the Lord, the symbol of God’s presence. The prophet’s vision is thus an expression of the absolute and incomparable nature of God. Therefore, the prophet Isaiah not only evokes the pilgrimage of the Jews to Jerusalem, but also, he shows that all nations will recognise the Lord and go up to Jerusalem because of the presence of God, not just to admire the mountain or the beauty of the temple, but to be instructed in God’s ways (Is. 2:3). As a consequence, once all nations would flock to Jerusalem, they will be instructed to follow the ways of the Lord, and the instruments of war will be turned into agricultural instruments (Is 2: 4). Implicitly, the prophet Isaiah teaches us, that learning the ways of Lord is not a mere decoration, or receiving a Christian name; it implies a change of behaviour that contradicts God’s presence and be a living testimony of peace and harmony.
The psalmist highlights the disposition of a worshipper who holds Jerusalem dear: “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” (Ps 122: 1-2). The mere invitation to go up to Jerusalem constitutes a source of joy. Unlike today’s attitude of some worshippers who do not distinguish the Church from any other hall, he testifies that going to the mountain of the Lord, Jerusalem, is an act of worship. As he stands in the gates of Jerusalem, “and now our feet are standing within your gates”, he does not recall the hardships of the journey; he rather focuses on praising God, and rather than pouring out his requests, he prays for the peace of Israel and his inhabitants. Though he recognises the primacy of Israel as the chosen people, he acknowledges Jerusalem’s vocation for all the tribes of the Lord. This pilgrim could be a prototype for conversion in prayer. Very often, people’s prayers are self-centred: They neither praise God nor intercede for others; they always have endless lists of demands. The psalmist inspires an awakening call from self-centeredness to God-centeredness and altruistic centeredness.
The second reading and the Gospel call for spiritual alertness. In the Gospel, Jesus defines his relationship with his disciples as a master and servant. “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Mt 24:42). Waiting for the Master is a must for a servant. Hence, striving to stay awake is not a privilege given to the Lord; it is a duty that stems from faithfulness. In the same line, Jesus employs two comparisons. The first recalls the story of Noah, when people were eating, drinking and marrying. The problem is not what they did in their social life; the only issue seems that they did not realise the danger until the time Noah entered into the ark (Mt 24: 38). That is to say, the alertness to get ready for the coming of the Lord passes through the details of ordinary life. The second comparison shifts the emphasis to personal awareness. Two men and two women who are on duty, one will be taken and the other left. It follows that the preparation to receive the Lord is more than a communitarian activity; it is a personal commitment. It is not enough to console oneself that we are all priests, religious, confreres, etc, still one needs to check one’s own preparation. Besides, we should take seriously the fact that Advent embraces two dimensions, the eschatological, the second coming of the Lord which we proclaim at Mass when we say “Christ will come again”, and the personal journey to death that each of us must make. The question would be: Am I prepared to go to the New Jerusalem?
St. Paul, in the second reading, using the concepts of darkness and light, admonishes the Romans to get ready in terms of repentance. Time management seems crucial because Christ is coming. The urgency is underlined through a triple call: The time has come, our salvation is nearer, and the night is almost over, and a triple invitation: Let us cast off the works of darkness, let us walk properly as in the daytime, but put on Jesus Christ. Salvation and night are opposites, hence the believer who awaits salvation ought to get out of the cover of the night characterised by orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, sensuality, quarrelling and jealousy. It follows that Christianity is not a club to join when one wishes, as he wishes; it is a lifelong commitment defined by the Word of God.
In a nutshell, the Advent season is not a mere waiting idly for the coming of the Lord; it is a reminder that we are on a pilgrimage to the celestial Jerusalem; we walk in the ways of the Lord and not according to our desires. Advent is a call for the change of mentality from worldly pleasures to heavenly delights; an invitation to be aware that we do not have time to procrastinate the conversion to tomorrow, for the time to get into the ark is here and now.
Happy Advent.
By: Gilbert Rukundo, M.Afr.