What Advent should mean to us Catholics

Today is the first Sunday of Advent and the Gospel reading for today is a very short one; you'll find it in your Bible on Mark 13: 32-37, which goes, "32 "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be watchful! Be Alert! You do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. 35 Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. 36 May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to all: "Watch!"

Read this passage very carefully and you'd think that our Lord Jesus was talking in front of us... looking at us right in the eye and telling us to "Watch!" But do we really care to watch and prepare our souls for life eternal? Unfortunately, few heed this warning and only a handful of people respond to the call of God. Most of us think or wrongly believe that we won't die soon or tomorrow; that we have still have lots of time to enjoy life and not think of the consequences of our sins.

Of course this passage is a disturbing one... people may just be asking... what are we going to watch for? To find out, let's turn our Bibles to Luke 21: 25-28 and read on; "25 There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand."

Last December when the tsunami struck Asia where hundreds of thousands of people from four nations perished in that disaster... many people thought that the beginning of the end was at hand. But as the Gospel teaches us, "People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." That means... it is not yet time for even our Lord Jesus himself doesn't know the time nor the hour of day. It is only the Father who knows this.

Today is also the beginning of the season of Advent and it is the right time to ask ourselves... what should Advent mean to us Catholics? Advent actually talks about the coming of our Lord Jesus... which is why the key word in our Gospel reading today is for us to keep watch! But to understand better the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, Catholic teaching brings us to the 1st coming of our Lord into this earth, which we celebrate as Christmas Day.

Last Tuesday Nov. 22nd, was the 42nd anniversary of the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy and I did what most Kennedy buffs would do to commemorate his entry into immortality... I watched a DVD of Oliver Stone's "JFK". At the end of this movie... right after all the credits were shown... a simple phrase was written in big bold letters, "THE PAST IS PROLOGUE!" For me, that's exactly what Advent means... that for us to better understand the future, we must look to the past as the past is where the beginning should come. Often, when things go awry... we all end up saying, "go back to basics" and that really means, go back to the past.

Maybe we should ask ourselves, what do we learn from the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ? For me the coming of our Lord is the ultimate expression of God's humility and love for us, the very people whom he created. You will find this passage on John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." Clearly, God's salvation history begins with the coming of his only begotten Son in the flesh and as we learned from the annunciation, the Word of God becomes flesh and dwelt amongst us.

During one of my interviews with Msgr. Cristobal Garcia, he told me that the Hebrew meaning of Bethlehem is, "House of Bread" and if you ask yourselves... where was the Baby Jesus placed when he was born? In a manger of course... but do we really know what a manger is? It is a feedbox for the cattle. For sure you already know that Jesus is also called the "Bread of Life?" Now isn't this just an uncanny coincidence that the Bread of Life that we partake during the Holy Communion was born in the House of Bread and placed on a feedbox for us sinners to eat and be saved? Advent therefore is best exemplified when right after the consecration of the Host, we all join in joyful exclamation, Christ has died, Christ is risen... Christ will come again! Surely we know deep in our hearts that this is all God's plan for us and we should not lose this opportunity to be with him in eternity. God loves you!

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