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| May He not catch us asleep! |
Jesus, I trust in you!
The prophet Isaiah looked back at
that time when God came down to save his people “with the mountains quaking
before (him), while (he) wrought awesome deeds (they) could not hope for, nor heard
of from of old.” He was referring to the time of the Exodus when God brought
out his people from the slavery of Egypt with such mighty wonders: He divided
the Red Sea so that his people may walk through it and He descended on Mt.
Sinai with so much glory. Now that his people had gone astray, Isaiah asked:
“Why do you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways and harden our hearts that we
fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants…Oh that you would rend the
heavens and come down…” And God answered Isaiah’s prayer. He came down in
person and even worked wonderful miracles beyond the people’s expectation. But
Israel did “not recognize the day of their visitation.” They crucified him for
they did not know that he was the King of glory. Their hearts were blinded by
their obsession with a political messiah who would have driven away the Roman
oppressors that failed to recognize the one “who comes in the Name of the Lord”
to save them from the greatest oppression of all: sin.
The Lord will come again, no longer
in the appearance of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes but as a judge sitting
upon the clouds of heaven. He will as the Master who had entrusted each of his
servants with a task to do. As in the parables we heard 2 Sundays ago, he will
demand from us an accounting of what he entrusted to us. He will come at an
hour we least expect. And so the Lord warns us: “Watch; you do not know when
the Lord of the house is coming…May he not come suddenly and find you
sleeping.” Isaiah said: “Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were
mindful of your ways.”
And this is really the question:
when the Lord comes now, will he find doing right? Will we be found being
mindful of his ways? “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the face
of the earth?” It would be terrible if he comes today and finds us preoccupied
with the frenzy of the holidays. It would be terrible if at his coming, “there
is no one who calls upon (his) name, (there is no one) who rouses himself to
cling to (the Lord).” Perhaps, as we busy ourselves buying gifts for the
holidays, we must be mindful of what St. Paul said: “you are not lacking in any
spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Are we really waiting for the
revelation of our Lord Jesus? Are we pursuing his spiritual gifts? Do we
concern ourselves with receiving the gift of Divine Mercy in the sacrament of
confession? In busying ourselves eating at Christmas parties, do we concern
ourselves with eating the Bread of Life in the Sacred Liturgy? Remember that
Christmas is made up of 2 words: Christ and Mass. St. Paul said that “you were
called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus.” It is in the Mass that we enter into
that fellowship. Do we concern ourselves with drawing away from the noise of the
holiday carnivals in order to meditate on the Word of God which reveals to us
Jesus Christ? Are we really waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus?
Advent reminds us that our concern
is to be “irreproachable on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.” At his coming,
may he not find us eating and drinking, marrying, trading and building. May he
find us watchful in prayer, busy in doing what is right, being mindful of his
ways. Let us call on him and cling to him. Stay sober and alert, for we do not
know when the Master will return.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray
for us who have recourse to thee!
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