At the end of the gospel Jesus says, “Be vigilant and pray”. Why did Jesus say that we should be vigilant and pray? After Jesus describes the end of the world, Jesus warns the people, the disciples saying be vigilant and pray. Its advent, advent is the time to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ.
The question is, how are you preparing for the coming of Jesus? How prepared are you for the coming of Jesus, in your life or your family? Jesus is coming but he was born already 2000 years ago. Jesus is coming to be born again in our life, in our heart, in our family, in our community.
Last week someone asked me a very good question. “Why the church gives us the Gospel talking about the end of the world, if we are celebrating the first Sunday of Advent?” If today we are preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ, Advent? My answer is very clear and short. There are three comings of Jesus in our life.
First 2000 years ago, Jesus was born, Jesus came to save us. Jesus came to show us how to love and to forgive, Jesus came to proclaim the good news. Every year at Christmas we celebrate the first coming of Jesus.
The second coming is when we face God, when we meet God face to face. It is the second coming of Jesus Christ in our life. We need to prepare ourselves every day, because we don’t know the date nor the hour. That is why the for the second coming of Jesus, we need to prepare our hearts, we need to change our hearts, to prepare ourselves to receive Jesus Christ.
The third coming of Jesus is we have the opportunity to meet Jesus, to talk to Jesus Christ, to deal with Jesus Christ. The question is, how do we treat Jesus Christ? How will we receive Jesus’ coming everyday into our lives? Jesus is coming. Jesus comes to us through the people we don’t expect. Jesus is coming through the people we don’t see. Jesus is coming to ourselves through an event or situation we face every day. The question is are we attentive? Are we sensitive to the needs of others? To Jesus Christ coming into our lives?
Jesus’ coming is the good news, we rejoice. Advent is a time to rejoice, Advent is a time to prepare ourselves to break the routine. It’s a time to examine our lives, it’s a beautiful time. That is why we see people cleaning their house. People making plans to travel, making plans to come together to celebrate, Advent is a busy time. We see the stores promoting Christmas shopping everywhere, you’ll see signs telling us that Christmas is coming. Everywhere we see signs about Christmas, busy time. Sometime, we lose the meaning of Advent. Advent is a time to remember that Jesus comes to save us. Jesus is the reason, Jesus is the center of Advent. Whatever we do during this time in Advent, cleaning the house, decorating the house, shopping, we should not forget the Jesus is the reason of Advent, we should not forget Jesus is the reason for Christmas.
That’s why in today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a warning. He says be vigilant and pray. Be vigilant and don’t lose the meaning of Advent. Jesus is warning everyone because of all we do at this time of Advent and Christmas can cause us to lose the meaning of Advent, why Jesus is coming to the world. Be vigilant and pray. Vigilant, because we to need to watch to see Jesus Christ’s coming, because in today’s Gospel the first Sunday in Advent, we need to reflect about the third coming of Jesus. The everyday coming of Jesus Christ, but because of so many things we do every day we don’t see, we discover Jesus Christ coming into our lives. That is why Jesus says to vigilant, there are so many distractions at this time of Advent and Christmas. Be vigilant and watch your life, watch your heart. Maybe there are things that should be removed from your heart, so you can see Jesus Christ come into your life.
Maybe this time of Advent, Jesus is telling you to watch, to remove the selfishness, Advent is a time to share. Advent is a time to share the blessings God has given us, time, talents and treasure. We are so blessed, Advent is a time to share with the needy people the blessings that God has given us. Be vigilant and pray. Watch your life, watch your commitment. Maybe in this time of Advent Jesus is asking everyone to watch. Maybe there are things like anger, that we should remove from our lives. Everyone can make a list of what we should remove from our heart, so we can see Jesus Christ coming into our lives. Maybe we need more love and compassion. Maybe we need to be more sensitive at this time of Advent.
Advent is a beautiful time. We prepare for the coming of Jesus, but Jesus is already born, He’s already among us. Jesus is already among our families, our communities, Jesus walks everyday in our streets. Jesus is always present in our lives, in our jobs, and in our community. Be vigilant and pray in this time of Advent. It is a time to watch ourselves, maybe we need to remove many things by confessing our sins. We need to prepare ourselves, prepare our hearts, so we can see Jesus Christ coming into our lives.
Brothers and sisters, the best way to prepare for the coming of Jesus, is to be more sensitive to the needs of others. The best way to prepare is to be sensitive to the needy, to see the hungry, the homeless, the immigrants, people who need our help. People who come to us looking for help. Remember what Jesus says in the parable of the last judgement, “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat, I was thirsty and you gave drink, I was sick and you came to visit me.”
Advent is a time to open our eyes, to open our hearts, to see the needs of others. Watch and pray. Brothers and sisters, I encourage you to make Advent 2018 a very special time for you, for your family. More spirituality, more activities, to read the Gospel, to confess, to pray and less decorations. Advent is a time to restart our lives, time to prepare ourselves to stand before God. Be vigilant and pray. We pray today, ask God to open our eyes, to open our hearts, so we can see Jesus Christ, who comes into our lives every day. Receiving today, the body and blood of Christ we are going to ask God to help us be vigilant and pray.
