Sunday, December 1, 2013

Be Ready

Roland Steele: Are you ready for this, champ?
Rudy Ruettiger: I've been ready for this my whole life.
--Rudy

Advent begins this week. The theme of today's readings is preparation and watchfulness. Paul (Romans 13: 11-14) advises "You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep."

Jesus (Matthew 24: 37-44) recounts the story of Noah, observing that people ignored the warning signs and partied right up until the day that the floods came and swept them away. Noah, on the other hand, heeded the warnings and entered the ark. "Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming."

Stark words that resonate. So often we focus on what is in front of us that we ignore winds of change blowing around us. When the change hits, we are not prepared.

God obviously does not want us to develop such complacency. Jesus warns, "Understand this: If the owner of a house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."

The challenge this advent season is to be alert. To be ready.
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2 comments:

dgeorge12358 said...

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
~Matthew 25:31:34

December 1, 2013 at 7:02 PM
dgeorge12358 said...

In the Roman Catholic Rite, Advent is a penitential season, focusing on penitential preparation for the Advent (Coming) of the Lord. It mirrors the Lenten preparation for Easter.

In the Maronite Catholic Rite, the Season of Announcement is celebrated which leads up to the Glorious Birth of the Lord.

The Season of Announcement is not penitential, but pedagogical (teaches) in allowing us to see how Zechariah, Elizabeth, John the Baptizer, Joseph and especially Mary, the Mother of God had faith in God's Word to them and therefore how our faith grows so that we can praise the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

December 1, 2013 at 7:47 PM

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