Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44
A new year in the Church calendar begins today, and this period is aptly called “Advent.” It comes from the Latin word adventus which simply means “coming. “Advent is a time to look forward and backward. We look
backward as we prepare to celebrate the historic birth of Jesus. At the same time, we look forward to his second coming as we prepare to welcome him into our lives during the Advent season.
In fact, at this time we can speak of three comings of God. The first is when Jesus, the Son of God, came to be born in the stable in Bethlehem. The second, which is talked about in the Mass today, is the coming of Jesus at the end of the world. And there is still a third coming, which we need to be aware of, which is when God enters our lives every day. Every single experience can be an opportunity to get in touch with God.
In the first reading, Isaiah describes his prophetic vision of all the nations making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, affirming their faith in the one true God.
Today’s Responsorial Psalm, a joyful hymn originally sung as the pilgrims made their way to the Temple in Jerusalem, prepares us for our journey in this new Advent season.
In the second reading, Paul exhorts the Roman Christian community to prepare to meet Jesus at his second coming by fulfilling their duties and ridding themselves of their previous lifestyle, impurities, drunkenness, jealousy and rivalry. We too are challenged to prepare ourselves spiritually for the birth of Christ in our lives.
In the Gospel, Jesus warns us of the urgency of vigilant preparation for his coming on our part so that we may meet him as our Judge both at the end of our earthly life and on the Day of Last Judgment when he will come in his glory. Jesus sends his warning that we are always vigilant and well prepared, doing God’s will and loving others.
Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken away and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the grindstone: one will be taken away and the other left.
What distinguishes us in life? Nothing distinguishes these two farmers; the same thing applies to the two women in their activity. They all work hard, with toil, to get wealth, but God would give without all that toil if they were united with Him.
In these characters we can see the two ways of life we lead: relying on self the one, relying on God and His coming the other; at work alone, at work together with God; inwardly asleep, vigilant always. The disciple, however, must cast his distress on the Lord: “Lord I entrust to you this situation that seems unsolvable, you can resolve it against all human foresight…. You are my shepherd!”

Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come. This verse, if we leafed through the gospels we would encounter it several times in Jesus’ mouth. Uncertainty was always warned about by Jesus. Even death can be a reason for us to reject it and, therefore, live as if it does not exist. Yet we know that we must
die. It is our blindness that is being warned at this time, our being hard of heart. That is why the importance of vigilance. Vigilance means, not to stand barricaded, safe, but to take responsibility every day, to face the events of life. It is a continually placing oneself in the presence of the Lord. In being vigilant we find the strength to break indifference, inertia, distraction. St. Paul writing to the Christians in Rome says, “It is now time to wake you from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we became believers” (Rom 13:11). He who sleeps lives in torpor of the senses, is supine, “has eyes but does not see, has ears but does not hear” (Jer. 5:21), has lips but does not speak, his heart beats but does not love: he sleeps! Different is the person who is awake who is able to stand in everyday life because he stands in the presence of God and experiences the reality of life from the heart of God, a heart capable of loving beyond measure to the point of giving his life.
Try to understand this: if the master of the house knew what time of night the thief was coming, he would keep watch and not let his house be broken into. Jesus’ insistence, “seek to understand,” makes us wonder how much Jesus cares about our lot. These first words echo what was said in v. 34: “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all this takes place.”
The final part of this verse compels us to put ourselves on an inner quest and not to wait for the events of life that destroy us (described with the image of the thief), but to be able to read them in the light of the gospel. We can consider the house spoken of here as the cell of our heart, where we rediscover and direct our choices of faith, sobriety of life, purity of heart that is fundamentally linked to the spiritual life because of the beatitude associated with it: “for they shall see God” (Mt. 5:8).
So you also stand ready because, in the hour you cannot imagine, the Son of Man is coming. To reinforce what was said earlier, Jesus says that the Son of Man will come when least expected. The hour of which Matthew speaks recalls the day and time Paul speaks of in Rom 13:11-14. Not a mere chronological time, but a KAIROS. In the Bible, time is seen as a gift from God and is always placed in relation to man and history.
For good workers…
– At this time Jesus addressing us continues to ask us to watch carefully by leading a serene life toward perfection. Let us then let the Word of God invade our consciences and fill us with the power of love to be able to give and thus remain “awake” to meet the Lord who comes suddenly!
– The obvious question to ask ourselves is: How should we prepare ourselves? St. Paul in the second reading advises us, “Let us give up all the things we tend to do under cover of darkness and live decently as people do during the day.” There are dark areas in our lives, things that we do, say or think, such as indulging our inferior and self-centered appetites; things that we would not want others to know because they are completely wrong. Things we need to get rid of because they are not good for me or for others.
– “If we therefore desire to meet God, we must seek Him in our hearts. If we can truly understand that everything is intimately united in God, we will attain peace and beauty!”(Tagore) and the house of our heart will be intact.
Have a good journey!
Fr Joby Kavungal RCJ