If you\u2019ve been following the readings at Mass recently, both on Sundays and during the week, you\u2019ve probably noticed their apocalyptic tone, which seems appropriate for the end of the liturgical year. Now that Advent has come though, shouldn\u2019t things take on a more hopeful tone? Or a more joyful one? Why are we still hearing about \u201cthe time,\u201d as St. Paul puts it? I would venture it is because Advent is a preparatory season, not just for the four weeks before Christmas, but for the goal of our Christian lives, which is union with God. We hear this week how St. Paul reminds us to put on the armour of Christ and put aside our dark deeds to behave as we do in the light. In the Gospel, Jesus exhorts us to be awake and ready for His coming. We hear this because it is important to remember that Christ\u2019s coming to the world is not just a past event that we commemorate but a future one we long for too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over these next four weeks, we\u2019ll be called, as the prophet Isaiah foresees, to approach our King and our God, to learn his ways, and to live for the peace and humility that his authority will bring. The story of the nativity that is recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, which we\u2019ll hear in the remaining weeks of Advent, exemplifies the virtues we should imitate as we celebrate Christ\u2019s birth. Yet we need to be mindful of the ultimate purpose of these celebrations, which is to transform our lives to be ready to encounter Christ in His second coming. We might not know when He will come, but we know that it\u2019s soon in God\u2019s understanding of time (i.e., a thousand years are like one day, one day like a thousand years), so these readings remind us that we need to refocus on Christ so that just as Israel was prepared for His Incarnation, we are prepared for Him as well. I don\u2019t mean to dampen the holiday spirit, Christmas is rightfully a joyful, celebratory time! It is that way, however, because Christ is made present in our lives in a special way when we commemorate this feast worthily and because it is an image of His return as well. These readings this week may not seem at first like they\u2019re preparing us to celebrate Christmas, but I would say they\u2019re inviting us to be rightly focused this Advent season. Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel Sal\u00e9<\/strong> \u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fot. Lukas Blazek\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1st Sunday of Advent <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,18],"tags":[96,104],"class_list":["post-2712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-slider","tag-advent","tag-sunday"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n