As Advent begins the message is loud and clear: stay awake. Advent calls us to be awake and attentive to the many ways in which the Word made Flesh is already present in our lives. It calls us too to hope that all that weighs heavy in our personal lives, and the world, will be touched by Christ’s birth. As we look back to the birth of Christ in Bethlehem the Church also invites us to look forward to Christ’s Second Coming.
Luke paints for us a rather frightening scene:
‘There will be signs in sun and moon and stars; on earth distress of nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.’
On simple level I hear in the text an invitation to be open and ready to all the ways in which God will be revealed to me this Advent. I can neither control nor predict those ways, but I know for certain that they will happen. Some of the ways in which God will be revealed will be gentle, others won’t. My Advent always starts well, but it doesn’t take long before many things compete for my attention. My hope is that I will stay awake.
How is God calling you to stay awake this Advent?
(Advent Sunday 1(C), Luke 21:25-28, 34-36)