PRAYER: “GRANT YOU FAITHFUL, WE PRAY, ALMIGHTY GOD, THE RESOLVE TO RUN FORTH TO MEET YOUR CHRIST WITH RIGHTEOUS DEEDS AT HIS COMING, SO THAT, GATHERED AT HIS RIGHT HAND, THEY MAY BE WORTHY TO POSSESS THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”
Is 2:1-5; Rom 13:11-14; Mt 24:37-44.
LORD, MAY I LIVE AS A CHILD OF LIGHT, EVER READY TO MEET YOU WHEN YOU COME”.
Today we begin the Church’s year known as the Liturgical Year, with the First Sunday of Advent. In all three readings, the message that comes out clearly is “to always be ready and prepare ourselves for the Lord, for he will come at a time that he is not expected.”
In the “Good books”, the heavenly Father has been addressed as the “Bread of Life” and “Light of the Nations”(cf. John’s Gospel). Today however, in our gospel, God is compared to a thief. In a sense, Satan has control over the world. The only way to win control over Satan is to securely tie him and rob him of the things he robbed from God. Therefore, we must constantly keep watch against Satan and his temptations.
“Watching” implies always looking up to God, straightening our crooked lives and modeling them according to the will of God. Watching also implies doing away with all that is not in conformity with God. It implies doing away with sin and all the vices that we have. St. Paul, in our second reading, mentions some of the vices/evil things we should avoid. These include: carousing, drunkenness, sexual excess, lust, quarrelling and jealousy.
All these vices are contrary to God’s will. These will always block our vision of God and when he comes, we will not be ready for him to snatch us away from the evil one. People who do all these are called children of darkness. These are activities carried out in darkness. Other activities of darkness are all those behaviours that do not promote peace in the world.
Isaiah, in our first reading, mentions spears and swords. These are war or battle tools/weapons, and therefore, they symbolise war. Pruning hooks and ploughshares, which should be made out of war and battle weapons, are tools and symbols of peace, because these are tools for farming and harvesting food, and when there is food, there is happiness, peace and harmony.
One way to get ready for the Lord, to get prepared for him and to watch out for him is to destroy all our war-like behaviours and work at promoting peace wherever we find ourselves. If we continue to carry around our swords and spears (not only physical or real swords and spears, but also our tongues, mouths, through bitter words and insulting language) it means we are not ready and prepared for the Lord because we cannot carry these into heaven, for in heaven people do not fight.
Let us not be like the grasshopper and say ‘there is more time’. Let us not procrastinate, for this will snatch away material moments at our disposal to prepare. Seize every given moment to amend your life.
Please, as St. Paul puts it, let us “awake from sleep”. To qualify this, I dare to say that, ‘let us awake from the sleep of ignorance and may be folly’. Some of us do things without weighing the consequences or negative effects. The involvement of some of us in some works of darkness like occultism, idolism, orgies, drunkenness, smoking, promiscuity and lust, rivalry and jealousy, and not conducting ourselves properly in what we do, are works of evil and darkness and should be condemned.
These can easily spark war and conflict in the nation and destroy as well as disrupt the peace we enjoy in our communities. In fact, think about the harm this can cause and cost you and other people-innocent ones, as well as the society or nation.
Please, let us be wise and prudent in whatever we do. Let us reason with Jesus in the Gospel (“Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left…”) and know that I may do all the odd and evil things, but when the consequences come, I will be the one suffering it or if it results in death, has one not been taken away and the other left?
In fact, the implications are overwhelming. Therefore, stay awake, be wise and prudent as you go about your activities. Stay very blessed as you start your new Liturgical Year, and find occasion to be grateful to God for sparing your life to start this New Year in the Church’s life.
PRAYER: “MAY THESE MYSTERIES, O LORD, IN WHICH WE HAVE PARTICIPATED, PROFIT US, WE PRAY, FOR EVEN NOW, AS WE WALK AMID PASSING THINGS, YOU TEACH US BY THEM TO LOVE THE THINGS OF HEAVEN AND HOLD FAST TO WHAT ENDURES. THROUGH CHERIT OUR LORD. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@ya@yahoo.com
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