25 "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
34 "But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; 35 for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. 36 But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man."
This is our last Gospel of ordinary
time. Today, Advent begins.
Each year, in order to prepare our
hearts for the birth the Christ Child, we go through this 4-week season of
preparation in anticipation of that day.
If you look around, the
secular world, once again, has indulgently jumped right into Christmas. We go
from “Thank you” to “I want” in the blink of an eye…. Advent? What’s that…? No,
I’m afraid the world “out there” can’t be bothered with a “holiday season”
dedicated to reflection, repentance, penance and prayer.
I think the Church gives us Luke's
apocalyptic scripture now because
they know what happens at this time of year.
In today’s Gospel we are given a stern
warning, a call to repentance… Luke tells us to take heed to ourselves so we are not weighed down with dissipation,
drunkenness and the cares of this life. He warns us to keep watch at all times….
It’s our fallen human nature
that we tend to immerse ourselves in the worldly experiences of life. The
upcoming season of Advent and the “Christmas Season” are no different. We tend
to get carried away in the “drunkenness” of the holiday spirit and with “the cares of our everyday life”. We tend
to allow the wonder of what we
are truly preparing for, get lost in the shuffle. And rather than keeping watch over ourselves, we are distracted
by silver bells and twinkling lights.
I’m a big martial arts movie
fan. In the famous Bruce Lee movie (“Enter The Dragon”), Bruce is teaching a
young man Kung Fu. After a poor effort on the student’s behalf, Bruce tells the
young man that his training “lacks
emotional content”. So, to help the young man understand why he’s not
progressing, Bruce uses a bit of philosophy that demonstrates not only what his
student is lacking, but what we tend
to lack in preparation as well. Bruce tells the foolish student “think
of it as a finger pointing to the moon, (he smacks the “smart-aleck” on head
and says) but don’t concentrate on the finger, or you’ll miss all the heavenly
glory…”
Sometime it’s hard to avoid
but, we are often filled by the pre-occupations of the “Holiday Season” and caught
up in the snares of worldly things. Like Bruce’s Kung Fu student,
we tend focus on the finger when it’s really a time to have our eyes firmly fixed on that Heavenly glory.
So in the next four weeks, we
need to set aside time for the coming of Christ. We need to prepare room in our
hearts for the divine babe of Bethlehem’s birth to take place. Between the
shopping, the gift giving (and getting), the parties and the indulgence of “Holiday
spirits”. Take the time to stop and ponder the wonderment of Jesus in the form
of the Christ child. Take the time to reflect on the humility in which he came
into this world (for us). Pray
that we may have strength to escape all
these things, these “seasonal distractions”
that will take place, so that when the son of man comes, we are prepared to stand before Him in
mind, body and spirit.
Peace-Neis
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