Advent Challenge To Stay Awake And Be On Your Guard
In the very first week of the event season, Jesus is telling his disciples “be on your guard, stay awake, because you do not know when the time will come.” Now when we listen to the word of God, we can listen to it in a passive sense or we can see ourselves being incorporated into the word of God.
The message of Jesus to his disciples some 2000 years ago is still very relevant to us now. The warning to stay awake and be on your guard has never been more relevant than it is for us now. If therefore we listen to God’s word and to see ourselves in it, then surely we will hear Jesus speaking to us during this season of advent, and warning us as well to stay awake and be on our guard. Right here in Trinidad, there have unfortunately been several instances of persons driving on the roads, and fell asleep, and the results were disastrous; destruction of property and worse yet, loss of life. As Catholics and Christian, if we go through life in a state of slumber, the effects can be worse than falling asleep at the wheel. Instead of losing our lives, we can lose GOD’S gift to us of eternal life.
Jesus equated being awake to the story of a man who travelled abroad for some time and left his servants in charge, each with his/her own tasks. We the faithful, we are those servants, and each one of us has been given a specific task to perform, that would help build the kingdom of God here on earth, a task that we must never tire on. Unfortunately, many Christians have fallen asleep. Many Catholics and Christians have allowed themselves by the way they think, the way they live, to be transformed after the world. Many Catholics though they go to Mass regularly, have fallen asleep and while are they are present physically at Mass, mentally emotionality, spiritually, they are absent, and as such, they miss out on the blessings, the tremendous blessings of being active participants at the celebration of the Eucharist.
[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”B00EOC01KY” locale=”us” height=”159″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rX4zS14dL._SL160_.jpg” width=”160″]Many Catholics and many Christians all over the world, have fallen asleep to sin. Many have allowed their minds and their hearts to be conformed to the world’s standards and not to God’s. Many have allowed themselves to yield under the pressure, or should I say the invitation of this world, to eat drink and be merry. Many have allowed themselves to adopt the standard that says ‘if it feels good do it.’ But the word of God is saying to you, to me, to all of us this advent to be on your guard, stay awake, because you do not know the time when the Son of Man will return.
Pope John Paul II wrote an article many years ago, and in it, he spoke of how the world had lost its sense of sin. In it, he lamented that the world was living as if there was no right nor wrong anymore. That article was written more than 20 years ago. When we look at our world now, when we look at our human condition now, we see that things have gotten worse. This advent challenges us, this advent in cause us to take stock of who we are and where we are, and to reform our lives.
In relating how we as Catholics, and how we as Christians ought to live, Jesus spoke of this man who went away for some time and left his servants in charge, each of them with specific tasks, each of them with a specific purpose. We are those servants, and Jesus is the man who went away to return. The challenge is we know not the time when he will return. We have no clue when the Son of Man will be coming back. Many have tried to guess and were all terribly wrong. Jesus himself does not know when He will return; but when he does, he will not be coming as He did some 2000 years ago, as a child in a manger. He will be coming as Judge of all the living and the dead. He will be coming to assess how well we carried out the tasks that each of us was given, and woe be on to us if we are caught asleep.[simpleazon-image align=”right” asin=”0867168838″ locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZISFYl2mL._SL160_.jpg” width=”116″]
So how do we stay awake? What must we do to ensure that we stay on our guard? We must obey GOD’S commandments, which can be summed up in two – ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.’
Our life is a vigil – some are long whilst others are short – waiting for the Lord to be revealed in all His glory. May this advent season renew in us all the desire to remain awake and alert as we await His return. May He find us waiting with joyful hope.
