Gospel: Mk. 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!’”
Homily
Returning to an empty house after a long journey or to a house where everyone is asleep can be rather depressing. How much nicer it is if people are around or awake and have a little celebration on one’s return. It gives a sense of the pleasure that others have in one’s company. Such an experience tells a person that the person is indeed loved.
This weekend we begin the celebration of Advent, that part of the Church’s year which celebrates waiting and in fact seeks to teach us how to wait. As human beings, we wait for many things, as Christians we know that our ultimate waiting is for the Lord, who will come, when we do not know. It may be at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning or in the evening but come he will.
The chief characteristic of the person who waits is watchful presence. One cannot meet the expected person if one is not there or if one is asleep. And so the Gospel presents us with an admonition: Be watchful! Be alert! And then gives us a parable to explain the admonition: “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.”
To be on the watch, however, is not simply so as to open the doors; it is also to have prepared the house and a celebration so as to greet the Master when he returns with joy and thanksgiving.
The opposite of being on the watch is being very comfortable. When the servant is comfortable, he/she does not watch because the return of the master is not very important. Nothing is prepared and so when the master arrives there is a lot of discomfort. The servant can only make excuses because nothing is prepared, the rooms are not clean, beds not made and there is only leftover food to serve the master. Surely the master who returns and finds nothing ready is not pleased. That servant who was in charge will surely pay for his/her negligence. It is important therefore to know how to wait.
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We live however in an “instant” world. From coffee to tea to oats; from acquaintance to friendship; from attraction to intimacy; everything is instant and with the advent of technology things which long ago took weeks to complete, such as letters to the other side of the world e.g. Australia, we now do in minutes. We are in fact creating a generation of persons who do not know the word “wait”. Yet Advent is the period of waiting and it must teach us how to wait.
Waiting, whether we like it or not, is part of life. Nature makes us wait whether we want to or not. Bad weather or mechanical failure very often disrupts airline scheduling and persons travelling have to wait. Other facets of life also make us wait. Waiting, however, can be a waste of time or we can wait creatively. Waiting for a plane in an airport can be a waste of time or it can be an opportunity to finish work already started. Pregnancy can be spent lying in bed resting or it can be spent getting things ready for the infant to come. It is important therefore that we build the habit of creative waiting.
For us Christians, waiting is the constant activity of our lives, because we constantly wait for the Lord who comes in so many ways and at different times. We must also be ready for Him whenever He comes. How do we wait for the Lord? We wait creatively, helping to build God’s Kingdom, so that when He comes we would have contributed to the building of a world free from ALL THAT OPPRESSES HUMANS, a world worthy of being offered by Christ to the Father. Our good deeds are the building blocks of this Kingdom, the Kingdom of Truth and Life; Holiness and Grace; Justice, Love and Peace.
This means of course leaving our comfort zones and going out to do our good deeds in places that truly need them. Comfortable people are not acceptable to God. Scripture has very harsh words for comfortable people. Scripture says that God will vomit them.
This period of Advent calls us out of the comfort zones which we have created around us so that we go out and build the habit of creative waiting for the coming of the Lord.
Like the saints whom we admire so much and whose good works as they lived and waited for the Lord’s coming, are the building blocks of a better world, so to our lives filled with good works, done especially to and for the most vulnerable and needy, are building blocks for the world of which Christ dreamt, a world characterized by Justice, Peace and Love, worthy of being offered to the Father.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, as we begin the celebration of this season of Advent, help us to remember that this world is not a lasting one. Help us to remember that we await a more glorious kingdom where there will be no more weeping and pain and sorrow. Help us to await with longing that day. Help us to await creatively by removing all the obstacles which slowed down its arrival and by letting our good works be the building blocks of your Kingdom of Justice, Peace and Love. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother who teaches us how to await the Lord creatively. Amen
