AWAKE, FOR THE DAY IS AT HAND

READINGS

• FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

• SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

• THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

• FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Scripture describes Advent not merely as a season of candles and carols, but as a divine alarm clock; heaven’s gentle but urgent wake-up call to the soul, “It is high time to awake out of sleep, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” (Romans 13:11–12). There is a prophetic urgency in this call—the grave is not far; judgment is not distant; every new day is a step closer to eternity. Time is a currency that never refunds. And so, my friends, Advent is not just a time of waiting, but also a time of wakeful shading; a time to detoxify the heart. Scripture describes Advent as the time to cast off the works of darkness and walk in the light; not tomorrow but now. We cannot welcome the Light while clinging to the properties that belong to darkness—Satan.

Satan's properties come in all kinds of disguises: anger masked as assertiveness, revenge dressed as justice, pride pretending to be self-confidence, hatred masked as cautiousness, unforgiveness parading as “still dealing with the pain,” jealousy wearing the façade of the “poor in spirit,” etc. Yet each of these belongs to the old landlord of our souls—Satan—and must be evicted before Christ can reign fully within us. Along with these are also the socially acceptable poisons: ingratitude, envy, gossip, cynicism, racism, bigotry, procrastination, self-deprecation, and uncharitable living. These are not personality quirks. They are spiritual termites, heavyweights that keep us bound to the night, fracture the image of God in others, and blind us to our shared humanity.

My friends, life is too short to live small, too sacred to live spitefully, too urgent to waste it in spiritual paralysis. As the old saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is now.” So let us rise. Let us cast off the garments of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us forgive where we’ve held grudges. Let us bless where we’ve cursed. Let us love where we’ve feared. Let us live as if the day is truly at hand—because it is.

A truly awake soul sees God’s fingerprints in the ordinary and feels His presence in the unnoticed. So, let us be alive in grace; to walk alert in holiness, to notice what heaven notices—the poor, the lonely, the broken, the forgotten. Let us light the lamps of repentance and reconciliation within. Let us make peace, forgive debts, show kindness, and walk humbly, because, when Christ returns, He will not ask how decorated our homes were, but how illuminated our hearts became. Wish you all a blessed Advent Season.