FROM THE PULPIT FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR B REFLECTIONS BY FATHER BENOIT MUKAMBA, CSSp.
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FROM THE PULPITToday we begin the season of Advent and a new liturgical year of the Church’s calendar which is year B. In the liturgical Calendar, the Church has set aside six important moments that are Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and the ordinary season of the year. Advent season celebrates a period of preparation for Christ's coming in our lives and in his final revelation. Christmas commemorates the birth of Christ in the body and his presence into our hearts. Lent is a period of penance, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Easter is a period of resurrection with Christ in the newness of life. Pentecost is a period of receiving the Holy Spirit, the advocate and our leader in truth and life. This newness of life in Christ Jesus forms the believers into his body, the Church. The ordinary season of the year invites us to live in the Holy Spirit as true disciples of Jesus Christ and wait for Christ to come in the final judgment.
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR B
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 63: 16-17; 64: 1, 4-8; Psalm 80: 1-2, 14-15, 17-18; 1Cor 1: 3-9; Mark 13: 33-37.
REFLECTIONS: Be alert.
Fr. Benoit Mukamba, CSSp.
The words of Saint Paul in the second reading (1Cor 1: 3-9) fit very well with our context of Thanksgiving weekend as Paul sees the many divine gifts bestowed on the Corinthians. These gifts are shown in discourse, knowledge and testimony to Christ as the Corinthians await the full revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul is very thankful to God for the Corinthians because they are alert and ready to welcome the Lord as faithful servants. These Corinthians are a model for us too as we expect the second and final coming of Christ. Through Baptism and confirmation, we have received an overflowing measure of grace to manifest the presence of God in our lives.
The Gospel message calls each of us to be alert while waiting for the coming of the Lord. Because, the Lord’s return has an essential element of surprise; “you do not know when the Lord of the house will come, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning”. We do not know the time of God. But the most important thing is to stand strong in faith, unwavering of hope and steadfast in love every moment of our lives. Knowing that we falter sometimes, the Church avails its instruments of God’s mercy (sacrament of reconciliation), so that we may sharpen our alertness.
Let us learn from the preparedness of people who live in disaster prone areas such as tornado highways and hurricane zones. They keep their emergency kits ready; frequently renewing its contents to avoid disappointment on the day of disaster. So should we be doing with the spiritual gifts that we have received for the building of the community. We ought to check up ourselves against selfishness and malice, “immorality and impurity, licentiousness and idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry and outbursts of fury, factions and occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies and the like” (Gal. 5: 19-20) that tries to separate us from the love of God.
If we live as daughters and sons of God, the day of the Lord’s coming will be a sweet surprise. And the joy of that day will surpass the anxiety of waiting for many years.
