Homily 1st Sunday of Advent Year C: Fr. Michael
U. Udoekpo
Readings; Jer 33:14-16; Ps 25:4-5,8-10,14; 1 Thes 3:12–4:2
and Luke 21:25-28,34-36
Preparation for Christ
Advent is a preparation for Christmas. It is a time we
celebrate the first coming of our Savior, Son of Man, and Son of God. It is
also a season in which our minds and thoughts are spiritually and joyfully
directed in expectation to the Second coming Christ. Advent is a season of hope. It is a season of
love. It is a season of faith; a season of renewal, a time of prayer and
vigilance in penance and charity.
Last year this time in the United States and in other English
speaking country we embrace and implemented the new translation of the Third
Edition of the Roman Missal. Today also especially in this part of the world is
one year anniversary of the new missal, our prayer and faith book. So today we
celebrate the unity of our faith in Christ Jesus the bridegroom of the Church.
One thing you would notice in the Bible readings of today is
that in as much as advent commemorates past events, it mediates salvation, and
deepens our awareness of Christ presence in the Church and the fulfillment of
that promise made by God to our ancestors, Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah,
David through the mouths of the prophets.
In the midst of threats of the Babylonian military might,
threats of exile, lose of homes, lives, the temple and its treasures, the
Prophet Jeremiah, a late pre-exilic prophet, mediates with words of hope. He
recalls the promise God had made to David in 2 Samuel 7:11-16, “in those days,
in that time, I will raise up for David a just-shoot; he shall do what is right
and just in the land. In those days Judah
shall be safe and Jerusalem
shall dwell secure…” (Jer 33:14-16).
And Paul said similar words of encouragement to the troubled
Thessalonians Church, “brothers and sisters may the lord make you increase and
abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to
strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at
the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones,” (1 Thess 3:12–4:2)
Apart from f Jeremiah and his contemporaries or Paul and his Thessalonians
Church, the Lukan Jesus towards
the end of his ministry, and as he approaches his passion, instructs his troubled
disciples as well of their preparedness. Christ says;
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing
and drunkenness and the anxiety of daily lives, and that day catches you by
surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face
of the earth. Be vigilant at all times…” (Luke 21:25-28, 34-36).
This awareness or vigilance is at the core of the message of
advent; Vigilance with hope, faith, and love and total self-reexamination.
Jeremiah had asked his people of the same vigilance. So also was Paul of the Thessalonians Church. Advent is a time we are
vigilance of what God has done for us not only at the present, but also in the
past and in the future. Advents reminds us of what God expects of us and what
he will continue to do for us, provided we listen to him!
It requires prayers
and in being vigilance to the beautiful prophetic messages of this season. John
the Baptist the last prophet before Christ bears this message as well. He says
to us repent for the Kingdom
of God is at hand. John
remains our model during this advent.
Besides John the
Baptist, Mary is another model. She is closely related to the mysteries of her
Son, Christ whom we expect at Christmas. Recall how Mary will react to the
message of the angels and the mysteries of her pregnancy. She took everything
in with fatih. She prepared and waited for her Son’s coming with love, hope, generosity
of mind, humility, openness, transparency, vigilance, prayer and joyful praise.
May we imitate the prophets, John the Baptist and our Mother
Mary, in our various capacities, as we prepare and awaits the coming of Christ
at Christmas and at the parousia.
