Homily For The First Sunday Of Advent Year B.
“WATCH AND PRAY!”
By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide.
· Today the church celebrates the first Sunday of Advent in a new liturgical year B. The church’s liturgical cycle is made up of three years: Years A, B, and C. Last Sunday with the celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the Universal King we rounded up the liturgical cycle A and now this Sunday we are launching a New Year which is Year B.
· Today also is the first Sunday in the month of December. More than ever before the joy of Christmas is downing us. And as it is customary, the coming days are replete with this mad rush of trying to make final preparations in order to have a befitting Christmas celebration despite the odds of the year.
· While we are making plans to have a good Christmas celebration, there is also another angle of caution because this season comes with its high crime rate and the likes. People are ought to be more cautious, security is beefed up around “endangered citizens”, people no longer move around without having to ask if it is absolutely necessary to avoid running into the hands of bad people.
· It is important to make seasonal preparation because it will soon be Christmas. On this first Sunday of Advent, is it not equally important to make spiritual preparation for the coming of the Lord at Christmas? What shall it benefit us if we make all the material preparation to celebrate the coming of the saviour of the world without any spiritual preparation? Spiritual preparations give meaning and credence to any material preparation.
· The word “Advent” is from the Latin word “Adventus” which means “coming”. It is used to refer to the coming of the saviour of the world at Christmas, his coming in mystery, and his final coming on the last day. Normally, when we have a special visitor come to our houses, we make adequate preparations, we sweep the house and ensure that everything is in place and we provide the best foods and choice wines to ensure that our visitor has a good time.
· Jesus is the reason for the season of Christmas and the Advent season gives us adequate time to prepare for his coming. The four weeks of Advent must be seen as a time for cleaning and putting things in place to receive the most important guest at Christmas. In making this preparation, nothing can be too much to do in order to make welcome this great guest who is our creator and Lord of all.
· In the gospel of today (Mark 13:33-37), Jesus specifically charges us to stay awake, to watch and pray. The word “watch” appeared in the gospel of today at least four times. This is a call for vigilance, not to go about making frivolous preparations while forgetting that which is most necessary. Of what good will it be to us that we gather all the good stuff to have a wonderful Christmas celebration only to leave ourselves in the state of sin and unworthy to receive the graces of Christmas?
· The Advent season is that season to take heed, to watch and pray because we do not actually know the time or the day the Lord will come upon us. While we wait, we must not wait in idleness, we must watch and pray and fill our lives with good works.
· The Advent season calls for spiritual alertness. It calls for us to always be on our best behaviour. In the gospel reading, the Lord is likened to the master who has gone on a journey and the time of return remains unknown to all. He has put us (his servants) in charge of affairs and we must account for ourselves as responsible stewards. We do not know when he will come, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. Whenever he comes, may we not be found asleep.
· Friends in Christ, we must make the choice of what we want for ourselves, are we a people of spiritual alertness who are always watching and praying since we do not know the exact time the Lord will come, or are we the kind of people described in the first reading of today (Isaiah 63:16-17, 64:1,3-8). Are we a people who have abandoned the ways of God while engrossed in material crave?
· The Lord who is coming only dwells where there are righteousness and purity, so in order to receive him and enjoy his blessings, we must be prepared to renounce old ways of sin and return to a life of grace and righteousness. We must allow God the divine potter to remold and reshape us into the image he so desires.
· The second reading (1 Corinthians 1:3-9) on the other hand, gives us a clue of the kind of life the Lord expects of us. The Lord expects us to live a life filled with grace and blessing. A life enriched and sustained by grace while waiting for the revealing of the son of God.
· Friends in Christ, the world is increasingly becoming difficult for Christians to live in without being contaminated by sin. We must continue to do our best to evangelise the world and not let it engulf us. If we stray, we ought to like the psalmist make effort to return to grace by exclaiming, “O God bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved” (Ps. 80:4).
· Let us make this year’s Advent season truly fruitful by the way we conduct ourselves while waiting for the Lord. Let us be sincere and take serious the preparations for that inevitable moment when we will come to face God at the end of time or at the end of our life in this world. May he find us awake, alert, and ready to meet him with joy now and always through Christ our Lord, Amen!
· Happy Sunday!!!
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