Florida Catholic | Sunday Word

1st Sunday of Advent

Advent 2008: Welcome the Christ

November 30, 2008 :: Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7; Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Mk 13:33-37

SISTER SALLIE LATKOVICH | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

There was a wonderful woman in my home parish who for years coordinated the annual parish festival. It was a huge event with carnival rides, games, food, and entertainment. The preparation was carefully done, well organized by teams of people whose tasks were outlined for months before the event. It was evident each and every year that careful preparation meant everything.

The same is true of Advent! For the four Sundays before Christmas, we are encouraged to prepare well for the coming of our Christ. We know that he was born into human history, is present in every event of our lives and will come again. The entire church community waits, watches and prepares each and every year for the comings of Jesus, our Christ.

Isaiah provides us a lament of the people of ancient Israel. During their time of exile, they were without hope. While owning their own sinfulness, they call out for the saving action of God who created them. The last lines of the reading recognize the dependent relationship: “We are the clay and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hands.” Let us join the Israelites of old as we, too, lament the sufferings in our lives and world today.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminds them of the gift they received from God, in Christ Jesus. In the present, Paul reminds them that they are continually strengthened by Christ. And they will be found worthy on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ in the future. Paul goes on to say that God is faithful; and indeed we experience the presence of Christ in our past, in the present and will in the future.

It is Jesus himself in Mark’s Gospel for today who says, “Be constantly on the watch! Stay awake! Look around you! Be on guard!” It is so easy for us to simply live our lives “in neutral.” We can fall into rote responsibilities, like the man in the commercial who says over and over again, “It’s time to make the doughnuts.” Our lives become energized when we experience hopeful anticipation, when we respond to the call of Advent and encourage others to do the same.

In Advent, we are pregnant with expectation for the coming of our Christ. We must wait for that day in partnership with others who wait. We must be vigilant for justice, faithful to the promises and compassionate to those who lament. Until he comes, we live in the “in-between time” of both ambiguity and hope. As the days of Advent pass, may we be ever more certain of Christ’s presence and ever more full of hope. Let us prepare well to welcome the Christ.

Sister Sallie Latkovich, Sisters of St. Joseph, is an assistant professor at the Blessed Edmund Rice School of Pastoral Ministry in the Diocese of Venice, a part of Barry University of Miami.

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