Mark 13:33-37
Dear Friends, Advent has us look backward so we can look forward. Both views call us to live in the present.
Isaiah is the featured Old Testament author of the Advent Season. The beauty of his poetry is filled with hope for deliverance and longing for the final expression of God’s saving power.
Mark’s message today and in this time of Advent is based on the fundamental confidence flowing from the Christian message. Christ will return in glory and with him will come the fullness of redemption. A new day is coming. Mark is emphatic: we need to be ready. “May he not come to you suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: watch!” (Mk 13: 36-37)
This longing for the return of the Lord mirrors the passionate longing expressed in Isaiah. Yet it is incredibly enriched and supported by our gift of the Gospel reality. Paul tells us, “He (Christ) will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 1:8) So we join together in our liturgies and in our lives to proclaim the Advent yearning: Come Lord Jesus!
In the meanwhile, Isaiah, Paul and Mark have a clear and simple message for us. Live today in faithfulness to the Lord. Enter into our reality. We do not know the future but we do know the present. We are called to live the Gospel with acts of mercy and forgiveness, with concern for justice and peace. In the constant struggle Isaiah encourages us with these words “O Lord, you are our father: we are the clay and you are the potter; we are all the work of our hands.” (Isaiah 64:7)
Advent challenges us to look at the lost opportunities, the time wasted and misdirected. We all have more than enough to account for. Advent calls us to gather ourselves together and live today, in the grace of the present moment for tomorrow is in God’s hands. We indeed need to cry out, Come Lord Jesus! But a life seeking to walk with Jesus right now makes our cry all the more real and focused.
God is very capable of keeping the schedule. He will do his job of finishing the program at the appropriate time. It is quite normal for us to use that familiar question of our youth, Are we there yet? God will let us know. In the meanwhile, our task is to be faithful to the Gospel message and express the hunger in our heart for a new day with the beautiful Advent prayer, Come Lord Jesus!
Isaiah is the featured Old Testament author of the Advent Season. The beauty of his poetry is filled with hope for deliverance and longing for the final expression of God’s saving power.
Mark’s message today and in this time of Advent is based on the fundamental confidence flowing from the Christian message. Christ will return in glory and with him will come the fullness of redemption. A new day is coming. Mark is emphatic: we need to be ready. “May he not come to you suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: watch!” (Mk 13: 36-37)
This longing for the return of the Lord mirrors the passionate longing expressed in Isaiah. Yet it is incredibly enriched and supported by our gift of the Gospel reality. Paul tells us, “He (Christ) will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 1:8) So we join together in our liturgies and in our lives to proclaim the Advent yearning: Come Lord Jesus!
In the meanwhile, Isaiah, Paul and Mark have a clear and simple message for us. Live today in faithfulness to the Lord. Enter into our reality. We do not know the future but we do know the present. We are called to live the Gospel with acts of mercy and forgiveness, with concern for justice and peace. In the constant struggle Isaiah encourages us with these words “O Lord, you are our father: we are the clay and you are the potter; we are all the work of our hands.” (Isaiah 64:7)
Advent challenges us to look at the lost opportunities, the time wasted and misdirected. We all have more than enough to account for. Advent calls us to gather ourselves together and live today, in the grace of the present moment for tomorrow is in God’s hands. We indeed need to cry out, Come Lord Jesus! But a life seeking to walk with Jesus right now makes our cry all the more real and focused.
God is very capable of keeping the schedule. He will do his job of finishing the program at the appropriate time. It is quite normal for us to use that familiar question of our youth, Are we there yet? God will let us know. In the meanwhile, our task is to be faithful to the Gospel message and express the hunger in our heart for a new day with the beautiful Advent prayer, Come Lord Jesus!
In Christ,
Fr. Tracy O’ Sullivan O. Carm
