20141130 AWARENESS OF THE LORD’S COMING AT EVERY MOMENT
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Isaiah
63:16-17,64:1,3-8 ©
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You, Lord, yourself
are our Father,
‘Our Redeemer’ is
your ancient name.
Why, Lord, leave us
to stray from your ways
and harden our hearts
against fearing you?
Return, for the sake
of your servants,
the tribes of your
inheritance.
Oh, that you would
tear the heavens open and come down!
– at your Presence
the mountains would melt.
No ear has heard,
no eye has seen
any god but you act
like this
for those who trust
him.
You guide those who
act with integrity
and keep your ways in
mind.
You were angry when
we were sinners;
we had long been
rebels against you.
We were all like men
unclean,
all that integrity of
ours like filthy clothing.
We have all withered
like leaves
and our sins blew us
away like the wind.
No one invoked your
name
or roused himself to
catch hold of you.
For you hid your face
from us
and gave us up to the
power of our sins.
And yet, Lord, you
are our Father;
we the clay, you the
potter,
we are all the work
of your hand.
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Psalm
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Psalm
79:2-3,15-16,18-19 ©
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Lord of hosts,
bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel,
hear us,
shine
forth from your cherubim throne.
O Lord, rouse up your
might,
O Lord,
come to our help.
Lord of hosts,
bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
God of hosts, turn
again, we implore,
look down
from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and
protect it,
the vine
your right hand has planted.
Lord of hosts,
bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
May your hand be on
the man you have chosen,
the man
you have given your strength.
And we shall never
forsake you again;
give us
life that we may call upon your name.
Lord of hosts,
bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
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Second reading
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1 Corinthians
1:3-9 ©
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May God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ send you grace and peace.
I never
stop thanking God for all the graces you have received through Jesus Christ. I
thank him that you have been enriched in so many ways, especially in your
teachers and preachers; the witness to Christ has indeed been strong among you
so that you will not be without any of the gifts of the Spirit while you are
waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed; and he will keep you steady
and without blame until the last day, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, because
God by calling you has joined you to his Son, Jesus Christ; and God is
faithful.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps84:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Let us see, O Lord,
your mercy
and give us your
saving help.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 13:33-37 ©
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Jesus
said to his disciples, ‘Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know
when the time will come. It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from
home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told
the doorkeeper to stay awake. So stay awake, because you do not know when the
master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes
unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all:
Stay awake!’
AWARENESS
OF THE LORD’S COMING AT EVERY MOMENT
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: : ISA 63:16-17; 64:1,3-8; 1 COR 1:3-9; MK 13:33-37
Today
we begin a new liturgical year. The gospel reminds us that we are all
called to be servants of God. We have been entrusted with the
responsibility to look after our own lives and that of others.
Furthermore, there will also be a time of reckoning, when we are called to give
an account of the way we live our lives.
This
day is the day of the Lord. But such a day is not to be awaited in fear but in
hope and joy, because on this day we will receive the fullness of life because
we have lived our lives fully on earth. The corollary would also
mean that those who fail to live their lives to the fullest will not be
rewarded with the fullness of life hereafter. But even before this final
coming of the Lord, the truth is that God is always coming into our
lives. He comes not to judge us but to help us to be faithful to
ourselves by being faithful to Him.
Thus,
appropriately, the Church calls the beginning of the liturgical year as the
season of Advent. Advent simply means the coming of the Lord.
But how can we speak about His coming when in truth the Lord has never left
us? So what do we really mean when we celebrate Advent?
Firstly, the Church wants us to be aware of His first coming at
Christmas. Secondly, the Church wants us to be aware that His
coming is still an ongoing process in our lives today. Indeed, He is
coming at every moment in our lives and in new ways. Finally, we mean
that He will definitely come. But His final coming would have been
prepared by all the comings of Christ already in this life. Thus, the
beginning is the end and the end is the final result of the beginning. In
other words, Advent is an opportune moment to be aware of His first coming
at Christmas so that His presence can also be with us throughout the year,
offering us strength, vision and life.
However,
the stark reality is that many of us are numbed to His presence.
We are blind to His coming. Indeed, the real problem is not that God has
left us or is not present but that we are absent. And God is absent
because we are heartless. We have no place for Him. This is the
gist of the first reading. Most of us are asleep, like the servant placed
in charge of the household. This unawareness of God’s presence is
the result of us falling into the rut of habit and deadly routine. Habit
without doubt is a scourge which paralyzes all life. We get used to
things; like the servant who got used to the authority entrusted to him and
became indifferent to his responsibility. We too also can become indifferent to
God. Many of us have lost our vision and direction. We have fallen
into the habit of being Christians, the routine of Mass and prayers. Many
of us are even deaf to the gospel that is proclaimed.
Perhaps, the reason for
our loss of awareness of His presence is because of the noise in the world. In the commercial world,
Christmas preparation starts way ahead, even before the Church begins her
spiritual preparation. Furthermore, Christmas is often associated with
noisy parties and merry making. Such an atmosphere in fact is
contrary to the Spirit of Christmas, which is one of peace, joy and
serenity. The carols, the lights, the music and the liturgy, especially
the hymns and purple vestments are meant to lead us to such an
atmosphere. It is different from celebrating the new year where it is
boisterous and noisy. That is why even at Christmas, many celebrate the
festival without the presence of Christ. They do not celebrate Christmas
but “Axe-mas”, since they axed Christ from Christmas.
Secondly, perhaps,
people are seeking for Christ in the wrong places. Just ask yourself,
how much time do you spend shopping and making material celebration for
Christmas compared to spiritual preparation? For many, they do not even
have time to make the sacrament of reconciliation! No wonder, when
Christ really comes at Christmas, not many could recognize Him. We are so
dazzled by the shopping lights that we cannot see that the birthday boy of all
time would be coming; perhaps in tattered clothes, sick, sad, lonely or
depressed. Or perhaps He would be coming at Mass, in the sacrament of
reconciliation or in our personal prayers. In seeking for Jesus in
the bright lights, in the parties, in the beautiful clothes, we might miss His
presence in the simple and quiet events in our lives. Afterall, when
Christ was born, there was no fanfare at all. He chose to be born in a
stable, among the animals and the peasants.
As a result, many of us experience Christmas
blues. What are these Christmas blues? They are those feelings
of meaninglessness of Christmas when we do not even feel the Spirit of Christmas.
Others feel that Christmas passes so quickly that one does not even have time
to assimilate the event. Now, psychologists tell us that Christmas blues
is the result of the assault on our emotions. Too much anxiety are
created artificially over this reason. People expect a lot of things to
happen. Too much joy or physical happiness is expected. Too much
celebration is expected. And when our expectations fall flat, we become
disappointed. But the truth is that many of us are not capable of receiving
it or ready to show it. Why? Because all the goodness and gifts are not
given from a heart that has given birth to Jesus. We are loving and
giving because it is the norm; a custom, not because it springs from our deep
desire to share the love of Christ with others. In the final analysis,
the root cause of it all is simply that there is no interior preparation for
this event.
Consequently, if we
truly want to experience the Spirit and meaning of Christmas in a prolong
manner before and after the Christmastide, then we must already begin by
welcoming the Lord into our lives, so that we can welcome Him at Christmas
in a special way. This is because once the Lord is born in our hearts, we
will also recognize Him in other small events. It is these preparations that
enable us to recognize the great event when it comes, or else we might miss
Jesus when He truly arrives.
The truly great joy of
Christmas we know is the experience of deep love and joy. Now where could
such deep love and joy happen if not in inter-personal relationships, in the
areas of reconciliation, gestures of love and acceptance. And when such
love is given to strangers and to the needy, greater and incomparable still is
the joy of knowing that we have loved Christ in the poor.
Furthermore, by preparing
ourselves, we experience Christmas as a cumulative experience of love and
joy. It is the little acts of love and joys that we experience each
day that enable us to deeply enter into the meaning of God giving us His only
Son at Christmas in the manger among the poor. Yes, even in ordinary life
events, experiences are cumulative. We need to warm ourselves up, so to
speak, so that we can be ready for the real thing. This is true,
for example, in a birthday or wedding celebration. We do not only wait
for the day of celebration itself to be happy, but our happiness already begins
from the moment we begin to prepare for that event, whether materially or
spiritually. This is true for all social festivals, be it Chinese New Year,
Hari Raya Puasa etc. Hence, we can understand why most celebrations will last
for days and weeks. The truth is that we cannot begin abruptly nor end an
experience abruptly. If not we will end up with festival blues.
How, then, do we prepare
ourselves for this Christmas? We need first and foremost to give a place to Jesus in
our hearts. And the way to do this is to be silent and to listen.
Time and space is needed for us to reflect on the past year and so prepare for
the year ahead. But only in quiet confidence and reflection, will we be
able to consider our calling in life and our orientation.
This is indeed what the second reading of today is inviting us to do.
Prayer, therefore, would be the fundamental
way to listen to God and keep ourselves alert to His presence. In
prayer, we will come to recognise the different presence of Jesus already, at
Mass, in the office, in homes etc. Jesus is daily coming in different
ways and at Christmas in a special and intense way. It cannot mean that
He comes only at Christmas. No, He comes every day, every moment and
every time when we experience joy, loving, giving and sharing. Just
like the celebration of our own birthdays. It does not mean that we are
alive only on our birthdays. Rather, we are always alive and being born
each day, although certain days, like our birthdays, we are more present to
life in us.
Yes, Advent calls us to
wake up, to arise from sleep; to shake off the dust of routine, habit, custom
and to let Christ come alive in our lives once more. As Thomas Merton
says: “The Spiritual life is first of all a matter of keeping
awake.” And to be awake means to be alive.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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