It's a new liturgical year and so I have decided to restart this blog. I hope I can keep up with writing it each week and that you will enjoy them.
Today we begin the Season of Advent and with Christmas falling on a Sunday, we are treated to the Season in all its fulness and that is a great joy for us. The four words which appear as the title to this reflection will act as headings for each Advent Sunday. So as this is the first Sunday of Advent, we are going to be thinking about Expecting, looking at what the gospel says, and how we, as a worshipping community, can explore the meaning and implication of expectation as a way of gaining deeper insights into this beautiful Season.
If we look at today’s gospel, we are confronted with two different, but at the same time connected facets of expectation. The first is the imperative to stay awake. It clearly implies a feeling of excitement. It introduces the idea that something is afoot and is about to happen. Something which is going to enact change and transformation. Our minds and thoughts are thereby put on notice about what this change and transformation will be and what it will bring. Staying awake so as not to miss this moment is the chal- lenge, and we recognise how hard this can be. We know that our excitement can be dimmed when we feel that expectation is not being satisfied, but the gospel spells out what is to happen – the coming of the Son of Man. Understanding what this means, draws us into the second aspect of expectation; when will it come about?
The strange, almost parable like, account in the gospel of a burglar breaking into a house may sound startling. It seems to beg the question why compare the coming of the Son of Man with a burglary? I think the answer lies with the earlier reference in the gospel to the people in the days before the Flood. We are told they weren’t prepared for it as they refused to listen to the warnings of Noah about the coming deluge. Similarly, with us in our times. Have we prepared ourselves spiritually for the reality of the coming of the Son of Man? The burglar we know comes with stealth and takes from us our material goods, everything that we feel is necessary and essential for our living. We have no idea of when he will come but when he does, he leaves us with nothing, But if all we are is what we own, then we are lost. What the gospel is describing is the final judgement, and we will never know that time for that, all we can say is that the Son of Man will come in the fulness of time, even though we have no sense of when this will be. But if we are expecting it and have stayed awake, his coming will be transformative for us.
Advent thus begins with the expectation of the arrival Son of Man and not the babe of Bethlehem. Let us help and assist each other prepare for this coming. Let us encourage one another with our prayers and make sure we are ready and expectant.
