First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C.
The Readings: 1st Reading; Jeremiah 33 : 14 – 16.
Responsorial Psalm; Ps. 24 : 1 – 5, 8 – 9, 10, 14.
2nd Reading; 1 Thessalonians 3 : 12 – 4 : 2.
Gospel; Luke 21 : 25 – 28, 34 – 36.

The Prophet Jeremiah in the first reading prophesies a hopeful and joyful promise to Israel and Judah, rather than the previous calamities he has been prophesying. Here is good hope promises of joyful activities like marriages, singing and thanksgiving sacrifices. This joy is to be crowned by a new virtuous shoot from the stalk of David, who will bring integrity and prosperity.

In the Gospel, Jesus talks of the total collapse of Jerusalem which is so central to the people of Israel. He asks His disciples as He asks us today, to stand firm and erect against these disorders, tribulations and temptations. In essence, He is saying that justice and integrity will come into disorderliness. He tells them and us to be watchful and be on the alert to the ways, He, the Son of Man comes to bring back our sense of integrity.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the time we prepare to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the Christ. How do we prepare, watch and wait with alertness? When we expect the coming of a VIP to our homes or town, we usually do some preparations; sweeping, cleaning and arranging things to look orderly and better. We want to look different from our normal looks. This is an indication that we have been living disorderly or in disorderliness. This means we intend to change our mood and distance ourselves from our past.

This is controversial as Jesus says, we may be able to read the signs of the time but not when the Son of Man comes. We do the preparations but God does the coming at the time He desires. We prepare because we are reluctant about our relationship to our past. Do we understand what kind of preparation we should be concerned with especially during this period of Advent?

Preparations should be of our hearts! Our main tasks should be, to be who we are; Humble followers of Jesus with self awareness. To say it another way, before we decorate our homes and streets for Christmas, we have to clear away the false masks we may be wearing. Our made-up identities help us to be more presentable to others and at times, they even fool us and them. Look at your mirror, which ‘you’ do you see? What you show other people or what you are? There is nothing wrong in putting our best foot to the public as it is quite understandable that we want others to see our best selves.  But outward presentation should reflect our inner-self, as before our consciences and before God, we want to be transparent and real. We want to have no illusions of ourselves. If we have dirty hearts, malicious minds and envious dubious characters, we want to acknowledge that to God, at least in the silence and hideouts of our consciences.

The acknowledgement of our true selves is what the season of Advent calls for, just as Mary did to the Angel Gabriel on the Annunciation that she would give birth to Jesus. Not pretentious cleanings, decorations and wearing of masks. We can prepare to pretend with humans, NOT with God, who knows our lives as best as we do. Jesus is coming to unmask us and receive our true selves and worth.

When I look around, from our villages to the western cities, the dry season and winter have stripped the trees of their leaves. How poor and bare they look!. All their flaws are plain to be seen.  Yet it is only when a tree has thus been stripped that we can see and appreciate its true shape. Nothing can hide in it. The sun light pours through it. And how lovely it is to be able to look through its skeletal branches to the blue sky beyond!.

It is the same with ourselves. When we have been stripped of all inessentials, of all the masks, and flimsy things, we use to hide our nakedness, then all our warts and wounds appear. It is only when all these masks have been taken away that our true worth is revealed. Jesus comes to strip us of all that we use to hide our true selves. All that is useless, in order to expose our wounds and scars from the past, so that He can heal them. When we hide  them, how do we expect Him to heal us and restore to us our dignity as sons and daughters of His Father?

During this season of Advent, before a single decoration goes up, we as Christians who understand the mission of Jesus, should prepare for Christmas with a foundation of our true selves in faith. God wants to be with us as we are, not as we purport to be. He wants to receive the true ‘us’ and bestow Advent’s gifts of healing and restoration. Let Advent be a period of letting God’s will be done in our hearts, in our every day actions and lives.

Then God’s light which He promises during this period of Advent, can pour into our lives, into our families and into our world and we will be able to look through it to the world beyond – the world of the eternal – as we look through the leafless skeletal branches of the dry season and winter trees in our neighbourhoods.

A Little Prayer.

Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for accepting to come to the true me, even as I am. Lord, come into my life, into my struggles, into my house, into my family and into, my community. Come and heal me and give me joy again. Come and unite us and let us experience, each in our own way, the joy You are offering. Come O Emmanuel, come. Amen.

Have a Blessed Week!
Bobe Talla Toh.