My dear people of God, this weekend marks the beginning of a holy season of Advent, which commences the beginning of a new liturgical year. The word advent means coming or arrival, waiting or expecting. Usually, when we are expecting a special quest at our home, we make special preparation for his/her coming. During Advent, the Holy Mother Church asks us to prepare for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so, as a time of expectation, the season advent reminds and encourages us for self-examination, to reflect on the need to let in God into our lives and earnestly prepare for the coming of Christ. When we talk about the coming of Christ, we consider its’ three-dimensional segments. The first is his historical birth in Bethlehem. The second is his continuous presence through the holy Sacraments, prayers and sacred scripture. The 3 rd is his triumphant return when he will judge the living and the dead. This third point is part of what we profess on our creed when we say “He will come to judge the living and the dead...”

Basically, advent prepares us for the celebration of Christ birthday, and for
us to joyfully celebrate this great event we need to make ourselves ready.

Again, this season is divided into two sections: the first section starts from
the first Sunday of Advent to December 16, which focuses on Christ’s second coming at the end of time. The second part from December 17 to 24, prepares us to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The three readings of this liturgy remind us that we should wait on God.

Today, the holy mother church chose the prophet Isaiah for the first reading to open the new liturgical year. Because of the situation at the time, the prophet could simply not wait for the coming of God to happen. With heightened anticipation he cried out to God: “O that you would tear the heavens and come down”. In addition, the prophet indicated that God works for those who wait for him in amazing ways. God is the potter, and we are the clay, the work of his creative hand. If we truly open up and follow his commands, he will come to us in a special way, as we prepare to celebrate the feast of the Incarnation.

Today’s gospel reading is very brief and seemingly simple, similar in theme
to the gospel of last two Sundays. In the parable, a man about to travel
abroad assigns to each of his servant responsibilities and asks them to
perform faithfully in his absence. This man represents Jesus who would soon return to his father after his passion and death. His servants are his
disciples, all of us his followers included. The gospel is reminding us that
Jesus has assigned to each of us a responsibility and wants us to prove our
faithfulness. His farewell advice is that we be faithful to our duties in life and not grow negligent and lazy.

For us to prepare meaningfully for the coming of the Lord, the gospel urges us to stay awake or to be alert. To be awake means spiritually waiting and holding oneself ready for God’s coming. In addition to staying awake, our Lord added the need to be prayerful. Hence, he said: “take heed, watch and pray for you do not know when the time will come”.

Note that it is not all about staying awake, but also praying while waiting
and watching. Prayer is an indispensable spiritual component of waiting and watching, as well as, an important phenomenon for our Advent journey. Prayer is an act of intellect, a feeling of humility and gratefulness, an attitude of trust and abandonment to the one who gave us his life for love. It is a mysterious but real dialogue with God, a dialogue of confidence and love.

It is regrettable that the world has a very unspiritual approach to this period that precedes the Christmas. People are already erecting Christmas trees;  yuletide jingles are already on the air but we have to pass through the advent before getting into the Christmas.

The Advent is not just the period that leads us to Christmas, it is also a
period that encourages us to prepare for the Second coming of our Savior
Jesus Christ. We can accomplish this by giving God priority in all our plans
and aspirations. 

I want to conclude this homily with St. John Paul 2 nd ’s encouragements to the group of audience on March 14, 1979. He says: “…do not stop praying!  Do not let a day pass without praying a little! Prayer is a duty, but it is also a great joy, because it is a dialogue with God through Jesus Christ.”  May our Lord Jesus Christ find us watchful and waiting whenever he comes