First Sunday of Advent

Readings: Isaiah 2.1-5, Romans 13.11-14, Mathew 24.37-44

Today the Church begins Advent, a special time. It's a special time because today we begin a new liturgical year. Advent was chosen to begin the year as a reminder of the time in history when Christ was not known to us. With His birth the beginning of our faith was founded.  Advent is a time of expectation and preparation for the birth of the Lord. A new time, a new opportunity and a new challenge. One of the characteristics of Advent is that it is a time of waiting.  Today we have to ask ourselves: what am I waiting for in my life? Or maybe I can discover that in my life I am not waiting for something anymore. I have my life, I have a plan for my life. This situation can be a problem because if I do not expect anything new in my life I need nothing from other people and finally I need nothing form God. And especially if sometimes we are tired and we don't want to change anything in our life. God gives us every year this special time we call Advent.

If I want to make this Advent a special time for increasing my faith, the Church suggests several things to do. The first one we just spoke about: listen carefully to the voice of God. The second suggestion, during Advent we can dedicate more time for personal and community prayer.  Maybe during Advent this can be a good practice for us. And of special importance during Advent go to the sacrament of penance or conversion.  The time of Advent is a time when we are called to do these things I have mentioned, listen carefully to the voice of God, penance and dedicate time for prayer, because we are waiting for our master Jesus Christ. "So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your Master is coming". 

Fr. Terry