HOMILY: 1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YR B.

HOMILY: 1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YR B.

THEME: “What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mk 13).

By: Fr. Jude Nnadi

Readings: Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64.1-7; 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9; Mark 13: 33-37

“Maranatha, The Lord comes”! Aramaic word that expresses an invitation: an encouragement not to stop but move forward in a climate of joyful waiting. In this new liturgical year, we are invited to “watch”, to wait for the coming of the Messiah. The Word becomes “flesh” and dwells among us whenever he enters “eph apax” (once and for all) into our lives. Christmas is the truth of a “forever” with us. A non-apocalyptic advent, which does not choose a scenario of war and bombs like the ones reported every day by the media, but an extraordinary and humble event, which breaks into the night of history and opens up hope.
On this first Sunday of Advent, we rediscover in Isaiah not “the distant and reckless God”, but the God who “does not let us wander aimlessly but takes care of us… He who made us little less than angels, work of his hands, his clay, always takes care of us”. It is therefore important to ask who we are waiting for, the meaning of waiting. Waiting and watching are two interesting situations, sometimes boring and stressful if who we are waiting for is coming slowly. In Advent we await Jesus, and he never comes late. He invites us to be attentive, ready to open the door for him immediately.

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In a painting at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Christ is depicted knocking on a door whose handle, is on the inside. It is the door of the heart which each of us can open but only from the inside. We will benefit greatly from this holy season of Advent if we can open our hearts to welcoming every human being, and so letting this season help us rediscover the value of Christian anthropology, the “imago Dei” present in every human being, both male and female, worthy of esteem and value.
Advent invites us not to rush, as always, from one side to the other, not to get caught up in the frenzy of a timeless life that locks us in a vicious circuit of habits. Instead, let us stop and raise our heads to re-discover the One who saves: the “Word made flesh”. We will find Him in the poor and needy, in the different, the foreigner. Be ready, alert, and vigilant. Let us stand ready to let the door open for Christ who always comes when we least expect Him.
In this world of frantic search for meaning and value, let us focus our attention and our vigilance, let us not fall into the superficiality of a boring routine, but “rush” into the present, to grasp the “Kairos” of our salvation. It is time to raise our heads, to rebel against the laziness of the moment and to look at the salvation that is approaching and wishes to find space in each of us. Let us look inward with a spiritual eye and let ourselves consumed by the luminous light of the Word of God, so that it may help us grasp the fragments of eternal Life. In this Advent, let us joyfully wait for his coming.

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