1st Sunday Advent B
1st Sunday in Advent – Year B – Waiting for God
Here we are at the start of Advent and I wonder how many of you are already starting to rush about as we try to get ready for Christmas? Rushing about for presents, for extra and special food, for trees and decorations and the like.
Or maybe you are part of the group that is so busy rushing about trying to get all of the normal and usual stuff done – things like work and family and day to day living – that you have no time – nor the energy or inclination – to take on any additional rushing about?
This is me, the second group, without any doubt or question.
My wife, Celia, often says to me that I take on too much and that I have to realise that there are only so many hours in a day and that I have to prioritise: I have to remember what I was told repeatedly and incessantly while I was at college preparing to become a Deacon. I have to remember that it is family, first, then work and then church. And by church last, it meant church work and not God.
But I think that the term, ‘rushing’ applies to other things, other aspects of our lives beyond the physical running from shop to shop. We are all involved in this to some extent or other, the rushing and hurrying of our thoughts and our feelings about things that are not important, or at best, not as important as others. Sometimes this rushing is an escape in itself. It means that we don’t have to focus on real things, Things that need our attention, our thought and our application.
But within this hurrying and scurrying of, and in, our minds, where is the actual and defined purpose of preparing for God’s arrival at Christmas? Advent is this time of ‘preparing’ of getting ready. Not for sales, or purchases or wrapping of presents or stocking the larder! No -we are or should be preparing for him, for his birth, for his arrival.
Jesus says to us all, “Stay awake!” Be ready. Be alert. Be prepared. He says that we, “...,do not know when the master of the house is coming and if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep.” He must not find us asleep, or in a daze or in some sort of fug caused by our getting or not getting all that we want or need from the shops. Or confused and battered by worry about this present or that food or anything like this.
This mental chaos, this emotional unrest is as bad for us as any physical running here and there because we can too easily and too readily lose sight of what is important for us, really important for us. I think that it is easy, too easy, to become embroiled in the rush and fuss of Christmas that we forget what it is all about: what it is really all about. We can run the risk of becoming dot-to-dot Catholics where we attend at the said masses each weekend, we join in with the required prayers and hymns and maybe even add an additional dot of attending a Benediction or Holy Hour – but without any thought-felt real engagement in the whole process.
Our bodies are here but our minds and hearts are elsewhere. We go through the motions but our real senses are attuned to other issues and problems.
We are a body of people who have as an identity the fact and the practice that we pray together in church, in community, in parish. We pray together and we support each other within that community with face-to-face contact. We celebrate together with our music, our prayers, our singing.
We help each other to get ready for the forthcoming birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know the date because we have it on our calendars. We know the place because it is here within our hearts, within our minds, within our spirits and souls and within our parish, and within the local Foodbank – please, in all of the rush, don’t forget them and the people they serve.
Stay awake and be ready. Be alert and be prepared as we wait for our God. Turn off all that noise and distraction. Slow down and tune in – fully and attentively.
Seek out some peace and quiet. Search for some tranquillity, some absence of turmoil. Prepare yourselves to receive our Lord and Saviour on his birth day. Prepare to sing and to shout aloud in praise and jubilation, “Today, today, a Saviour has been born, a Saviour has been born for us. He is Christ the King, Christ the King, Jesus Christ the King.”
Maybe do take the opportunity to attend a benediction or Holy Hour and turn off everything else and tune in to the peace and tranquillity of the Lord. Stop! Look! Listen! Speak and He will hear. Be quiet and peaceful and you will hear.
Whatever is going on in our lives, we need to focus on being in that right place to celebrate His birth: that place in our hearts and minds where we can rejoice fully with each other, gathered together in church, in community.
We are all waiting for this great day. We are all anticipating this great day. We don’t want to fall into it accidentally and then have it be over and not really realise it had come and then gone, because we were focused on something else, other things.
Advent is this time of preparing, this time of getting ready and staying ready throughout. -Christmas day is a date on the calendar but for any one of us, our Master could come calling at any time ahead of that date. If we prepare fully and whole heartedly for Christmas from this point on, then whenever the Master calls, He will find us waiting in readiness, prepared to receive Him and to do His will.
“Our life is a long vigil, waiting for the Lord to be revealed in all His glory. We wait with longing and with joyful hope, for His Spirit is with us and we know that God is faithful to His promises.”
Bidding Prayers
1. That all migrants and refugees find places of safety and rest at this time of the year and receive the support they desperately need. Lord in your mercy
2. That all people identify and recognise the time that they need for each of their priorities and allocate the appropriate time needed for each. Lord in your mercy
3. That countries and areas torn apart by war and conflict, find peace that embraces one and all and allows each to live in peace with each. Lord in your mercy
4. That all children receive the love they need from parents and family and friends that allows them to rejoice whole heartedly at this time of year. Lord in your mercy
5. That all people suffering from any form of illness – in mind, body or spirit – are comforted by the love of Jesus and our supportive actions. Lord in your mercy
6. That those who have died recently may find eternal rest with the Lord and that their families are comforted by God their heavenly Father. Lord in your mercy
7. That we offer up the prayers we hold deep within our hearts. Lord in your mercy
8. That Mary, our Mother, joins her prayers with ours as we now say together – Hail Mary. . .