First SUNDAY of ADVENT November 28, 1999

First: Is 63: 16-17.19; 64: 1-7; Second: 1 Cor 1: 3-9; Gospel: Mk 13,

THEME of the READINGS

Being in an attitude of watchfulness while waiting and hoping: here lies the focal point of the readings of today’s liturgy. The Gospel repeats three times: "Be on your guard, stay awake," because you never know when the time will come, when the master of the house is coming. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks about waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed, "he will continue to give you strength till the very end." The beautiful invocation to the Lord that we find in the third passage of Isaiah expresses the wish that the Lord may break into history with his might, as if it were a new Exodus, recalling that "You are our Father."

Doctrinal MESSAGE

The day of the Lord. In Advent, the tradition of the Church has combined two comings: that of the Word in the weakness of the flesh, which we celebrate on Christmas Day, and that of the Lord in the majesty of his glory, which in terms of time and mode of implementation, belongs to the kingdom of the mystery hidden in the heart of the Father. There is a thread of continuity between the two: Jesus’ historical coming forebodes and in some way anticipates his last coming at the end of history; those who go out with joy to meet Jesus of Nazareth in the mystery of his birth have no reason to fear or despair over the last and final encounter with the glorious Christ, the Lord of the universe and history. For the Christian faithful, the day of the Lord should not be identified with terrifying scenes, terrible fears, horrible paralyzing ghosts, bewildering apocalyptic visions. With Saint Paul, the Christian is certain that "the Lord will continue to give you strength till the very end, so that you will be irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (second reading). The day of the Lord calls the Christian, and every human being, to take on responsibility before the infinite mystery of the incarnation and redemption.

Certainty and ignorance. God’s revelation has unveiled to us the certainty that Jesus will come one last time, at the end of all time. As Christians, we can have no doubts about this. However, God has told us nothing about when or how this will take place. Such questions obviously lack importance as far as God is concerned. God does not reveal himself to satisfy our curiosity or to eradicate healthy hope from our heart. He reveals himself for our good and for our salvation. Not knowing when or how keeps us human beings, generation after generation, in a state of watchfulness, alert, which is what Jesus urges us to do in the Gospel.

Abandonment in the hands of the Father. Together with this evangelical attitude, the text of Isaiah proposes the attitude of filial abandonment, for God is our father and our liberator, our potter, and we are his clay. This is an attitude which is achieved and created in a special way in prayer, the crucible of the filial spirit and solid faith in God. This filial spirit makes the prophet cry out with enviable confidence: "Oh, that you would tear the heavens open and come down." Five centuries later the wish would become reality with the Incarnation of the Word. When it is determined in God’s plans, heaven will tear open once again and the Son of Man will come down to judge the living and the dead and to definitively establish his kingdom of justice, love and peace.

PASTORal SUGGESTIONS

Be on your guard! Christmas is approaching. In our society, we run the risk of "having a good Christmas", as we would have a good summer vacation or a good national holiday. In other words, perhaps we attend Midnight Mass because "tradition compels us to," we decorate our home with a tree with lights and a nativity scene, we celebrate the day with our family and sit down to a hearty meal, we watch on television some program on Christmas celebrations, we give our friends and loved ones nice presents, we rekindle the family ties around the hearth ... These are all nice things! However, the essence of Christmas is the most sublime mystery of history: God becomes one of us. Emmanuel escapes us like water running down through fingers. Or it fades like smoke in our superficial mind, not greatly inclined to serious meditation on things that are really worthwhile. Today the liturgy tells us: Be on guard! Do not miss the chance to meditate on something important, to duly appreciate the value that we are going to celebrate.

Be on your guard! You are a sinner. We do not know the day or time when the Lord will come at the end of history, but we do know about his historical coming. Are we going to be bold enough to live not caring, as hardened sinners completely estranged from the divine Child of Bethlehem and the Lord of Glory? We are sinners. Inside, we long for sin. We must not cease to be watchful so that the Lord’s Advent finds us prepared, dressed up in our wedding attire. We are sinners: Christmas reminds us that the Son of God became man to redeem human beings from sin. Let us remember! Let us be on guard! May God’s historical coming to earth, among men and women, revive our conscience as sinners of our need for salvation. Christmas is not only a time for feelings of tenderness, closeness and celebration. It is also a time to reawaken our conscience from its slumber and to "let God be born" in our heart.

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOB.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].