The Son of Man is Coming -Be Ready

Romans 13:11-14    Matthew 24:36-44

Good morning and Happy New Year!  It is Advent – the Church year begins.

Therefore you … must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Ah yes – the season of preparation has arrived, though there may be some confusion as to what it means to be ready, to be prepared. Andy Wiliams would have told us in joyful song that “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”, and our minds fill with images of – what? – the mall at Christmas?  Oh yes, we envision visiting Santa, drinking the “seasonal” peppermint-mocha latté, shopping till we drop. The Son of Man will be born on Christmas day – so let’s go shopping.

Is this what St. Paul is telling us? Something hints to us that though this is certainly one way we prepare for the great day, it is not what St. Paul and the Church had or have in mind.

In the Church, Advent is meant to be a quiet, reflective season filled with mystery - and mysteries can be confusing. We can see an example of this today. Two liturgical colours.  The altar is purple, while the pulpit the hanging is blue. Purple is the colour of contrition, and using it for Advent dates back to the very early Church, when Advent was a prohibitive, and penitential season. As it was in Lent, so too in Advent the Church reflected on its unworthiness, in this case, its unworthiness to receive the blessing of the incarnation, the holy birth. 

The blue does not appear in the Church until the late Middle Ages.  It was in the late 11^th century, long before the Protestant Reformation, that blue vestments and hangings were authorized for liturgical use by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, as well as the Anglican Communion. The Blue speaks to us of celebration and hope, of Jesus’ mother, Mary, and of joy. But using the joyful Blue during Advent by no means takes away from the fact that Advent is also a time of preparation and introspection and penitence. 

So, we start Advent, the time of coming or arrival, with that which is not uncommon in the Church, several ways to look at and experience a mystical reality. While the secular world may tell us Advent is all about shopping, the Church calls us to focus on, and to experience Advent and the coming of our Savior in a deep and spiritual way

You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. 

Odd, to think of the stress levels of our world as a form of sleep, but that is how St. Paul saw them, and in his words we can find a warning. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near – so we must wake up - if we don’t want to miss salvation, if we don’t want shopping trips, and parties, and sending out our Christmas cards, to so distract us we miss the experience of Advent and that to which it leads.

So – how do we prepare?  One difficulty we may have in knowing how to do this, is that the event of which St. Paul speaks to the Romans, the one for which he tells us we need to be awake, hasn’t actually happened – not yet.  Paul is speaking of the Second Coming of Christ, that which will occur at some undefined future date.

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father...  Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Today’s Gospel also looks forward to that future event. Jesus is reminding us that not even He, nor the angels, know when God will come. Because of this, He is calling us to be awake and prepared, to be ready for God’s coming.  So, Advent is not a countdown of shopping days until Christmas.  Advent is a reminder to be ready, a call to start training our spirits for God’s arrival. It sounds like the work of a lifetime, which it is, and as presented in today’s readings, it is work with no confirmed completion date. Like having not one but two liturgical colours for this holy season, it’s confusing.

Fortunately for us, in our Christian tradition there are three ways we recognize God’s coming.  In four weeks, we celebrate the first way, the day when God came down and was born among us as a baby, the day we call Christmas.  Then there is the coming Jesus speaks of in today’s Gospel.  Jesus will return; God will be united with creation, heaven and earth will at last join in harmony.  But there is a third time when God is with us, a time before the first coming and the final one, and that, time is now, this day.  In Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, Jesus is represented in three ways, as Savior, as Judge, and as the One who appears each day in the hearts of those who love Him. 

We can start our Advent preparation with personal devotion. This doesn’t have to mean that we closet ourselves for private prayer, locking others out.  Private prayer time during Advent is important, but devotion can be shared with friends and family. The family may come together each day to say prayers, read a Bible story, sing Advent carols, or open a window on the family Advent calendar. It is time taken to, as a family or group of friends, remember the season and the Person whose arrival we await.

Advent is a good time to think of what we can do for others.  Giving is a theme thrown at us by Madison Avenue, but while they want us to shop for something to give, we already have what we need for Advent.  Giving our time, our love to others on a volunteer basis, or just being friendlier in the rush and bustle of the season, friendlier to the harried sales person, to the stressed out other shopper who may collide with us on many levels, to the driver on the road who drives like a madman – being patient, being kind, being aware – this is preparation for Jesus’ birth.

Some of us may enjoy some pre-Christmas decorations at home, chief among them, the Advent wreath. Each candle lit on a successive Sunday in Advent, can fill us with joyful anticipation, while reminding us of what is coming, not just gifts under a tree, but the Light of the World in our hearts.

There is still the penitential side of Advent, which we must not forget as we make joyful preparations. We are, as we have always been, sinners, unworthy of the unconditional love poured out on us by God. In our quiet moments of prayer, when we take time alone to speak to Jesus, we can look back on our day to see where we haven’t been the loving, giving person He has called us to be. This is the time to apologize to Him, and to ask not only for forgiveness, but for help to be the person He wants us to be. How wonderful it is, to be able to chat quietly with a Friend who is also our Savior. How amazing to know that He was born to us on Christmas day.

It's the most wonderful time of the year – The song is so happy – and noisy. Advent is a time for joy, but also for quiet reflection, patience, and penitence. Now is the time of preparation, time to be ready. May your Advent be blessed with joy and peace.

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, ignite within us a spirit of joy and excitement. May our hearts be filled with 

anticipation for the blessings You have in store. May our hearts remain steadfast, anchored in faith, penitent when we disappoint You, as we await Your divine plan. Fill us with hope, that we may see Your light everywhere, even in shadows and in moments of waiting, grant us the grace of hopeful patience. Help us to trust in Your   perfect timing and to find peace in the stillness. All this we ask for Your tender mercy’s sake. Amen.