1st Sunday of Advent

Gospel Reading: Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

25 Jesus said to his disciples: 'There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves;                                                                                       
26 men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.
27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
34 Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap.
35 For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth.
36 Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’

Meditation

The gospel readings for Advent each year invite us to meditate on the mystery of waiting, and they do it by presenting us with stories of great people who knew how to wait.

On the first Sunday, Jesus himself is the model as he taught his followers the spirituality of 'waiting in joyful hope'.

The passage is clearly in two sections, verses 25 to 28, and verses 34 to 36.
You must interpret verses 25 to 28 in the light of your experience, times when your world or the world of your family or other community collapsed.

Allow the dramatic language to ex­press this experience, making sure that you recognise the double movement of collapse and rebirth.

If you decide to meditate on verses 34 to 36, the key will be to identify concretely the meaning of 'that day7, a time like the one in verses 25 to 28. Then you will get a feel for the teaching of Jesus.

Prayer

Lord, great tragedies befall us from time to time:

• we lose our job;
• a spouse proves unfaithful;
• we discover that one of our children is on drugs;
• we fall into a sin we thought we had overcome.

 These are moments of great distress. It is as if the sun and moon and stars are no longer there in the heavens. We feel as if we are drowning, the ocean and its clamorous waves overwhelming us.

The powers of heaven have been shaken and we are dying of fear as we await the future which menaces us. But, somehow or other, that moment, terrible as it is, brings its own grace:

• we find we have more courage than we thought;
• our family finds a new unity;
• we forgive a long-standing hurt.

Jesus comes into our lives with power and great glory. We have learnt now that we need never panic. When these things begin to take place, we can stand erect, hold our heads high, because a moment of grace and liberation is near at hand.

Lord, we thank you for the times when oppressed people can stand erect and hold their heads high because a moment of liber­ation is near at hand.
'After One time, is two time.' Trinidadian saying.

Lord, at one point in our lives we felt that good times would never end. We lived mindlessly, looking down on others who were less successful or less virtuous. We thank you for bringing us to our senses:

• we fell sick;
• we fell into a sin we thought we would never commit;
• one of our children got into trouble with the law.

It was Jesus warning us to watch ourselves, and reminding us that the day of reckoning is always sprung on us like a trap, for it comes down on every living person on the face of the earth. Lord, make us aware of how our minds have been coarsened by over-indulgence and being too much engrossed by the cares of this life.

We know that what counts in life is to be able to stand with con­fidence before the Son of Man.

Lord, we sometimes think that, as a church community, we are exempt from the ups and downs of institutions. But the day of crisis is sprung on us suddenly like a trap, just as it comes down on every group on the face of the earth.