Sunday Reflections: First Sunday of Advent (Year B)

First Sunday of Advent (Year B)

Is. 63:16b-17; 1Cor 1:3-9; Mk 13:33-37

image credit: Mangalore Diocese 

Our Life experience:

When you were a child, did you play the game, Hide and Seek? If you did, you will remember that the person who was “it” closed his eyes while the rest went to hide. To give them time to hide, the child started counting: 1, 2, 3 and up to 10. Then he would say, “Ready or not, here I come!” The point of the game was to hide oneself so well that the leader could not find you, for if he found you, and beat you back to the goal, you had to be “it” the next go-around. The secret of the game was preparing oneself against being found and caught. With excitement we heard the words, “Ready or not — here I come!”

Message:

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah prays for God’s active presence so that the Jewish community, returned from Babylonian exile, may remain faithful to their God. In the second reading, St. Paul prays for the reconversion of Christians in Corinth who have misused their gifts and charisms and remain ill-prepared for Christ’s Second Coming. In today’s Gospel, using the short parable of the servants and gatekeeper of an absentee master who could return at any time, Jesus instructs his followers to be alert and watchful while doing their Christian duties with sincerity. The gatekeeper and the household servants are expected to be ever vigilant because their master is sure to return. Although the time of his return is uncertain, but the reward or punishment is sure and certain.

Therefore, what we must do in the Advent?  let us be alert and watchful in the spirit of today’s Gospel.

“Maran atha” (Rev. 22:20) is an Aramaic (Syriac) expression that means: “Come, Lord Jesus.” It was used as a greeting in the early Church. When believers gathered or parted, they didn’t say hello or goodbye, but “Maran atha!” If we had the same spiritual outlook today, it would revolutionize the Church and the lives of its members during this advent season.

May this season fill us with hope so that we are watchful and meet the Lord when he comes. 

More on Advent click here.