Readings for The First Sunday of Advent:

Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Mk 13:33-37

When I was young I often heard that as you grow older time passes more quickly! I did not believe them. It seemed sometimes like tomorrow would never come! Life was about looking forward to that next day when I would graduate from elementary school, when I would begin High School, when I would be able to drive, when I would go to college, when I would enter the major seminary, when I would be ordained a priest, when I would begin my first assignment, when I would finally become a pastor of my own parish....Life was always about tomorrow.

Now it seems like life does pass so quickly. It seems like yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas and now we are beginning a new Season of Advent. It seems like we just began to talk about the new revisions of the prayers and responses at Mass and now, ready or not, here they are. I hope everyone is ready to respond, "And with your spirit". The term "advent" itself denotes not only an arrival, but also that which is yet to come. The Season also recalls the passage of time, the four thousand years (as counted in scripture) from Adam and Eve to the coming of Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We light a new candle each Sunday to remind us not only that we are drawing nearer to Christmas, but the world anticipating the arrival of its savior. This year we will also be using the image of the Jesse tree. Each week our young people from the elementary school, religious education, high school and confirmation program, along with their families, will place a ornament on the tree which symbolizes one of the periods of waiting for the arrival of Our Lord.

 In today's gospel Jesus is telling us, "Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.” (Mk 13:33). That was one of the failures of Adam and Eve, whom we remember in this first week of Advent. Their world did not have the pains and struggles that we face. Their garden of paradise was not just a place where food was plentiful; they walked purely in the presence of the Lord. There was no sin or division, doubt or fear. Their ability to share in the fruit of the "Tree of Life" reminds us that they were in a perfect state of Grace. But, they fell asleep! They lost sight of the beauty of their state and they allowed themselves to fall into sin. The history of salvation is God's attempt to wake us up to see for ourselves His wonderful love and presence in our lives.

This Sunday in Advent we do not celebrate that Jesus is going to be born into the world. Christ is already here. Advent is a time for us to become more acutely aware of the presence of Christ at this moment. We are again reminded during this season that we need to "wake up" and recognize God's presence in our midst and to be always prepared to receive the Lord. Advent is to wake us up not only to prepare to celebrate the Birth of Christ and prepare for a great feast, but to become more attentive to God's loving presence in our midst.

One of my favorite stories for Advent has Satan meeting with his demons asking the question, "What is the best way to lure people into hell?" One of the demons responds, "Tell them that there is no heaven." Angrily Satan retorts, “No, if you tell them that there is no heaven they will only look around and see God's goodness and love and say, yes, there must be a heaven." A second demon yells out, "Tell them that there is no devil." Again, Satan responds, "You fool; of course they will see the evil in the world and realize that there must be a hell." Finally a demon exclaims, "Tell them that there is plenty of time." To this Satan rejoices telling them all, "Exactly! This is the key. Tell them that there is plenty of time that they can change their lives later, they can sleep longer! Then we can lure them into our kingdom."

There is not plenty of time! There is no tomorrow, only the present! At this hour, at this moment, at this very second we are called to be aware of God's loving presence with us, to be attentive at every moment of this life to the wonderful gift of God's love. Yes, we better start sending out our Christmas Cards and buying our presents, but more importantly, we better be aware at this very moment of Christ's presence amongst us. On the day of Fr. Lorenzo's funeral we were very prepared for the ceremony, but I was not prepared for the Archbishop to arrive early. When he arrived in my room with many priests following, my room was a mess. Hopefully all of us will be more prepared for our Lord.

One of the revised responses that we will be using today helps us recall our need to be prepared. As the priest says, "Behold the Lamb of God; behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb," we will now respond, " Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." Well our Lord is here! He is coming! Let us be attentive to His presence and always be prepared for His arrival.

God Bless,

Father John Provenza

Pastor