The readings for the First Sunday of Advent (Year A) May be found at:
Life is busy isn’t it? So much to do. So little time.
There’s always something going on, always something to plan for, always something to do, always more items on our ever growing to-do lists.
This past week was a perfect example.
We planned and prepared for Thanksgiving.
Whether we were home or travelled to be with friends or family, chances are we spent many hours thinking about and preparing for Thanksgiving.
Meal plans were prepared.
Impromptu trips to the grocery store happened for that one item we forgot on our list.
Then it became about getting the house ready, doing the cleaning, preparing the table, cooking the meal.
I heard something earlier this week that caught my attention. Basically it went like this...we spend 10 hours preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, twenty minutes eating it and 3 hours cleaning up after it. That’s thirteen hours of a lot going on there for a twenty minute meal!
And no sooner than when Thanksgiving was over we were already on to the next thing - making lists, reading circulars, drinking ginormous cups of coffee and heading out for Black Friday shopping.
Because Thanksgiving was so late this year, there are even less days to prepare for Christmas. So much to do. So little time.
That’s exactly what the gospel for the First Week of Advent is all about.
So much to do.
So little time.
Unlike Thanksgiving and Black Friday and Christmas, which we have had marked on the calendar, we don’t know when we will meet our Lord.
Whether we meet Him as part of His Second Coming or because of the unexpected end of our own lives, that day will come. The days of preparation, the planning, the list making, all the activity will come to an end. It’ll happen.
No matter how hard we try to control our day-to-day lives, ultimately events will overtake us. And that is why we need to be prepared.
In today’s gospel, our Lord’s message is simple. Prepare for the unexpected through faith. Trust in the Lord daily and when disaster strikes, you will have the where-with-all to survive.
Now, Our Lord does not want us unable to sleep, anxious, constantly worried about whether today could be the day for us or those that we love. But He does want us to prepare for the inevitable.
He calls us to be prepared. Today is not just any day.
Today is where eternal happiness or eternal punishment is decided.
That’s scary isn’t it? I’ll say that again.
Today is where eternal happiness or eternal punishment is decided.
We don’t know when our earthly pilgrimage will come to an end, but if we thought it could come today, how could that change the way we live our lives?
To be saved we don’t have to meet any special conditions, or to be in a special position in life; we simply have to be faithful to the Lord in the middle of ordinary, everyday life. To live in a way where we are conscious of our souls and of being in a state of grace.
Our Lord calls us to be prepared and like a good Father, he has given us some guidelines to help. He has given us the commandments and has given us the pathway to ensure we are in a state of grace in the Sacrament of Penance.
Examine your Conscience. Go to confession. Do it as soon as you possibly can.
If you are too embarrassed to go to your parish priest, go somewhere else. If the schedule for confessions doesn’t work for you, call the parish office. They will gladly accommodate your request for a sacramental confession. Go to Our Lady’s Chapel downtown. Find a priest that may be a little hard of hearing if that helps.
That one has worked for me in the past.
As you work through your list in preparation for Christmas, make sure making a good sacramental confession is on it - if not at the top of it.
As we begin this Advent journey, let us be mindful of our eternal lives and that caring for it be somewhere on our ever-growing to-do list - if not at the top.
After all,
We have so much to do
and less time to do it in
than we can possibly know.
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