11/29/20

Post date: Dec 01, 2020 2:26:40 AM

November 29, 2020 First Sunday of ADVENT Homily by Fr. Karl Schray

Jesus is coming—get busy!

There is no feast day of the year that calls for as much preparation as Christmas

does. But it is just possible that we will have everything ready for Christmas and

not be prepared at all. Christmas is, above all, a spiritual feast. Not “Chris-mas” but “Christ’s Mass”.

Of course, we are joyful that God has come to us as a little baby 2000 years ago.

And it is appropriate that we prepare to celebrate such an awesome event.

But that is not all there is to Advent. And it is not that coming that Jesus

is referring to in today’s Gospel when he tells us to “be watchful and alert”.

Advent is as much about the future as it is about the past. If we do not prepare

for his coming to us in grace in his sacraments now and in his future coming,

his coming in the past will be of little value to us. There will be a time

when he comes to each of us personally at the end of our lives.

If we are prepared for his coming at the end of our lives,

we will be prepared for his coming in glory at the end of time.

A few years ago, I attended a time management workshop. One of the most

useful insights I got was to make a distinction between what is urgent and what

is important. They’re not always the same thing. Avoid the tyranny of the urgent.

I stress this because there are so many things we think are urgent

at this time of the year. We must be careful not to let them override the most

important thing of all—preparing for Christ’s coming- the truth that

we often do not feel so urgent about. With all the stuff we feel we must have;

we cannot forget that the Child whose birth we celebrate was born in poverty

and taught us not to make “things” too important in our lives.

It is my responsibility to remind myself, and you as well,

that this time of year is meant to enrich us spiritually.

If it only wears us out and empties our wallets, we have missed the point.

“Be watchful, be alert.”