FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

READINGS: FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

This past Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving Day. Amazingly, when President George Washington recommended and assigned Thursday the 26th of November, in 1789 as Thanksgiving Day, and when President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday of November as a national Thanksgiving Day, in 1863, both presidents saw the act of thanksgiving as not just limited to giving thanks but also as a time to seek God’s forgiveness for our communal sins, and a call to the responsibility of creating a peaceful, more just and equitable world. This is very interesting because both presidents saw thanking God for our blessings as intrinsically tied into reconciliation with God and to the greater responsibility of being benefactors to a world in great need of our kindness, goodness and mercy. Amazingly, this is exactly what Advent is all about.

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year, (Year C). While many a time, we look at the Advent season as a time we prepare for the celebration of Christmas—the birth of Christ, in the true sense, it is really the season when we are invited to be mindful of the second coming of Christ; a time to remember that we will be accountable to God for how we have lived our lives. It is a time that calls us to seek reconciliation with God, self, and others; a time that calls us to forgive and be forgiven. It is a time to let go of past failures, negativities, hate, anger, wrath, vengeful spirit, and guilt. It is a time to let go, let God, and get going. It is a time to embrace the freedom of living life as a child of God with the fullest confidence found in the saving grace of His Son, Jesus Christ.

In line with the second coming of Christ, Advent is also a time that calls us to be much more conscious of reaching out to suffering humanity. Scripture says that our accountability, on the last day, will center around what we did to be the compassionate hand and heart of God to those in need. Therefore, as we go into Advent this year, let us remember, pray, and commit ourselves to caring for the hungry and destitute among us. Let us remember and pray for those who are alone and forgotten and commit ourselves to doing something about it. Let us remember and pray for those silenced by the weight of violence, oppression, and injustice and commit ourselves to do all in our power to pursue justice, fairness, and equity for all. Let us initiate, daily, little, compassionate, graceful, unexpected and undeserved acts of love towards others.

Advent, my friends, is a time to choose to live life from a place of peace, happiness, and joy. So, let us be kind and graceful to ourselves for we deserve to be joyful and happy. let us do what we must to make sure that emotions like anger, hatred, envy, hopelessness, failure, and frustration do not become default emotions in our lives, as we look forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior and prepare for His second coming.