First Sunday of Advent
November 27, 2022 — Year A
Readings: Is 2:1-5 / Ps 122 / Rom 13:11-14 / Mt 24:37-44
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

According to Tryon Edwards, an American theologian, “Death has nothing terrible that life has not made so.  A faithful Christian life in this world is the best preparation for life in the next.” This statement of Mr. Edwards has something to do with preparation for our death.  It also has to do with the coming of Jesus Christ into our lives, especially now that we are in the season of Advent.

During the first Sunday of Advent, which begins the new liturgical year in the Church, there is an invitation for Christians to stay spiritually awake and to prepare for the Lord’s coming.  Advent, which means, “coming,” is a time of preparation for Christmas, but it is more than that.  Today’s gospel speaks of the coming of the Son of Man at the end of the age.  In this sense, Advent then also points to the unknown time that will mark the end of human history.

According to Father R. H. Lesser, an English priest and author, in his book entitled Like Honey in the Rock, Jesus Christ has six comings.  We have to get ready for Him by decorating our house, preparing sweets, and perhaps buying a new dress.  The first coming of Jesus happened in a village in a remote province of the Roman Empire.  In this sense, God is kind and merciful, since He sent us a savior, His son, to give us salvation.  This mercy of God cannot be stopped even by man’s stupidity and malice.  He saves us because He loves us.

The second coming, as I already mentioned is the mercy and kindness of God.  The third coming, referred to by the fathers of the Church as the parousia, will be a different matter.  As Saint Matthew said, “When the Son of Man comes as king, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His royal throne and the people of all nations will be gathered before Him, and He will proceed to judgment.”  Our main sins, most of them least remembered in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, are sins of omission, especially disobeying the positive commandment of the New Testament, the commandment to love.

The fourth coming of Jesus is in the sacraments.  The Lord comes in four different ways in the Eucharist:  through the meeting of the people of God, through the priest who in a special way represents Christ, through the Word of God, and through the Eucharistic species.  His real presence in the Eucharist is a real coming.  Of this Eucharistic presence, most people are aware.  We tend to neglect and forget the fact that He comes really and truly in every other Sacrament as well.  For example, we can really and intimately meet Him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, as a forgiving God.  Why not take advantage of this Sacrament?

The fifth coming is through the wind, the cries of children, the song of the birds, the rain.  The problem is that our eyes are not open to see Him.  Our ears are not alert to hear Him.

The sixth coming is an even more intimate one, mentioned by the Lord Himself when He said, “If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.  My Father will love you, and we will come and make our permanent home within you.”  Most of us know something about this internal coming, but do we actually experience it?  If we have to prepare for the glorious coming of the Lord, then we must live our life in the spirit of the Lord, to actively involve ourselves in human interactions, to see in the face of everyone the face of a loving God, to believe that God is Emmanuel, God is with us, a God who is a father, friend, and companion.  This is what it means to be spiritually awake.

As we begin today a new cycle of the Church year of grace, let us resolve to shun doomsday paranoia, on the one hand, and reckless complacency on the other.  Let us resolve to be always awake in the Spirit by living a life of faith and love in service to the Lord, so that whenever He comes, we shall be ready to follow Him into the glory of eternity.

Christ continues to be present in the Church and in the world.  His presence will remain until the end of time, but His presence is not fully manifested.  There are still many people in the world who have not heard the Gospel message and have not met Jesus Christ.  The world has not been fully reconciled with the Father yet.  It is true that everything has been reconciled in Christ, but the grace of reconciliation has not been received by everyone.  It is important for us to have this longing for the Lord’s return, but in His fullness.  Therefore, we continue to pray constantly saying, “Your kingdom come.”

Not only at Christmastime, but in every celebration of this Eucharistic banquet, the joyful mystery of the coming and presence of Christ among us is made visible.  This is the reason to repeat and insist over and over the need to experience Jesus’ coming. It is through this persistent waiting and continuous experience year after year that this image of God in which we were created by love in Jesus Christ will come to full maturity.  He comes in so many ways to meet us.  Let us go to meet Him.