1st Sunday Advent (A) / The Unknown day and Hour
    Is 2:1-5/ Ps 122/ Rom 13:11-14/ Mt 24:37- 44
  Introduction
 

         Our modern culture is very much future oriented. We plan almost everything beforehand. We plan our vacations, our annual budget, the number and spacing of children and our retirement.  All these ideas on planning the future are very good in itself for our hectic modern living; no planning would mean chaotic lives. However if it is exaggerated, misused or abused, it could make us forget the “present.” A person can make it a habit of living entirely in the future and not be really aware of what is happening in the “here and now.”

  
  Background
 
  1. In today’s second reading St Paul reminded the Romans that preparations for the Second Coming of Christ must start not in the future but today, here and now. He made a wake up call when he said: Walking to the dawning light of the Lord, we must walk in that light. We must “throw off the works of darkness.” Same is true in the vision of Isaiah (1st reading) there is the pilgrim of the nations ready to go to Jerusalem, to the mountain of the Lord’s house to glorify God.  Advent means a new beginning. We have to start listing to the wake up call of God “today,” so that we can find ourselves prepared for His final coming.

  2. In today’s Gospel, Matthew recalled Noah’s time when he warned the people about the coming of the floods. The people did listen to his call and failed not act immediately. The people were to much engross in their secular occupation. Perhaps their sin was: to give no thought of the danger in the present moment –the impending catastrophe. Jesus used the same scenario to warn his disciples against too much interest in secular business that makes them forget to use the present moment for the Parousia (Christ’s second coming).  

  3. The similarities between those two men plowing and two women grinding were the fact that they were both busy working in the farm and their produce. They might too busy to think about the Parousia. But nonetheless there are still some of those that will be found worthy of Christ second coming. The saying “one will be taken while the other will stay” could mean that there were people who stayed alert and vigilant: thus they were found themselves prepared for His final coming. Furthermore, the parable of the vigilant household reinforces the uncertainty of the time of the Parousia. The image used “like the thief in the night” is the same image seen in 1 Thes 5:2, “digs through.” The Palestinian houses were built entirely or partly of clay bricks. Locking the door is not sufficient because the thief can “digs through” the wall and enters the house. The only way is for the household to be prepared at all times.
 
  Reflection:  
 
  1. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher used to tell that: “Everything begins with the End.” The best way to see the whole perspective of a thing; is to view its totality from its end. The actual and complete idea of the house you want to build (house plan) must be drawn first before you can start working with it. In today’s Gospel we are given a possible scenario of how the world will end. From this stand point, its time for us to see “today” the complete picture of our life, where we are heading at.  The reflection of your life taken from the perspective of its end (death) will give you an image of the kind of life you already lived and the things we still have to do in the remaining days of our lives.

  2. Even though Christ came already 2,000 years ago, there are still 3 ways that the Messiah might come again. (1) The End of Time (Eschatological), which could happen any time. Only Father knows when. (2) The End of our own life (Death) which can happen in the far future for those who are healthy and young, but we have to be aware that accidents and sudden heart attack also do happen anytime anywhere. (3) Then the Coming of God here and now in our daily life in prayer and sacraments. This last one (personal encounter with God in prayer) is the experience that we do not need to plan in the future. Prayer is finding God coming into your life today. It is an encounter that touches your heart here and now.

  3. There is no better preparation than to be faithful in our daily work. By being consistent, everyday, in doing our regular responsibilities at our best is the best gift we can offer for His coming. The past no longer exists and the future is yet to come. The present is the only moment that we can make a difference. It is in the “consciousness” of the present moment that we can be aware of the things we can still do, that could help other people’s lives. It is likewise the awareness of God’s “ever present existence within our lives that we become fully aware of God’s undying love and forgiveness. When we pray, we pray not to the God of the past nor we talk to the God of the future yet to come, but rather we pray to Someone who “is” always here “living with us” in good times and in bad, He is the God that stays, the one that loves here and now.
 
  Conclusion  
            Four weeks from now the civil calendar will celebrate New Year. We have many New Year resolutions, things we want to change in our life.  Advent means also the beginning of a new year in our liturgical cycle. And since we have the Gospel today about the Second coming of the Son of Man. We are actually in the “Beginning of the End”. As we begin the different “ends” in our live, may we start ending our old way of life and start to walk in the newness of life in Christ.