Mark 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

The message of today’s Gospel could not be more clear: You do not know when the master will return, therefore, be alert and watch for His coming. Do not be caught by surprise!”

Despite history, it’s easy to fall into the line of thinking that nothing important or earth-shattering is going to happen to us. That happens to other people. It’s easy to pray for the people struggling through war in Ukraine or Gaza, or to empathize with those suffering persecution for the faith in Nicaragua or China – all the while thinking we are exempt from such things happening to us. Perhaps this is a defense mechanism we use to convince ourselves that there’s nothing to worry about, that our worst fears will never be realized. On the other hand, we even convince ourselves that good things won’t happen to us. We’ll never win the lottery, or be chosen for the first team, or win the competition. Perhaps this is a defense mechanism, too, meant to protect us from disappointment when we do fail, or lose out, or come up short.

It’s been twenty centuries since Christ rose from the dead with the promise that He would return. The first generation of Christians, it’s widely recognized by scholars of Church history, expected the imminent return of Jesus, so much so that St. Paul had to convince people to stop ignoring their daily duties because they were convinced that Jesus was coming soon, so what was the point? Two millennia later, some scholars dismiss the Second Coming of Jesus in glory, insisting instead that each of our deaths represents the Second Coming of Jesus to us individually. But this is not what Jesus promised. He promised a Second
Coming in glory, and we trust that He will keep that promise. It’s not for us to know when He will come again (though some have tried very hard to determine the date, even coming up with a date, only to be disappointed again and again). The difficulty for many today is to not give much thought to Christ’s return. That is a mistake.

Advent is a time of preparation, both for our celebration of the coming of Christ at the Nativity, and for His Second Coming in glory. The point of Advent, and of this Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent, is to be prepared at all times for Jesus’ return. Whether that “return” is when we meet Him after our deaths, or when He comes in the clouds for all to see, it is for us to be ready at all times. What does it mean to be ready? Well, it certainly means not to be caught in sin. Patterns of sin to which we are attached are to be let go, and Advent is the perfect time to work on letting them go. But it’s not simply a matter of not being caught in sin when the Master returns. It’s also a matter of being caught doing His good work: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the infirm, visiting the imprisoned, etc… as well as forming our wills according to God’s will, so that every moment of our lives is a moment of living in grace. That is the beauty of God’s grace, it transforms every moment, even the most mundane, into a moment of grace – that is, if we recognize His grace in that moment, and grasp it!

Grasp the grace of every moment. Live in that grace. Recognize the presence of God and of His grace in every moment. Not only will this inspire us to keep from sin, but it will empower us to live the grace of every moment until that moment when we see Him again, coming on the clouds, beckoning us home.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.