It is 1st December 2019. We are celebrating the First Sunday of Advent. The readings
are from Isaiah 2:1-5; the second reading is from Romans 13:11-14; and the Gospel from
Matthew 24:27-44. We begin the Advent season today by lighting the first candle of hope. We
are invited this week to wake up and be ready to meet Jesus who would like to have a
personal heart to heart chat with us. We need to look forward and be ready to prepare
ourselves waiting in joyful hope. We wait for the one whom we love, care and would like
invest time and resources with. The first reading invites us to come to the mountain
of the Lord on a pilgrimage to obtain God’s blessings. We need to ascend our life to the
Lord. It is the time to reassess and reclaim our due from the Lord. “Come, let us walk in the
light of the LORD.” (Is.2”5). It is time to wake up from our spiritual slumber and accelerate
our works of charity and merciful acts. The responsorial Psalm acclaims, “Let us go rejoicing
to the house of the Lord.” (Ps.122:1). St Paul reprimands us in the second reading to wake
up and deliver a life of honesty and integrity by dealing with our complacency and lethargy
in our corroded spiritual life. We need to put on Christ to deal with our sinful way of living.
During this joyful waiting, let us prepare ourselves to meet the Lord in the poor and the
needy. The encounter with the Lord will be incomplete without meeting our needy
neighbour in charity and love. Our salvation and the giver of the salvation is near now than
ever before. Are we near the Lord? “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
provision for the desires of the flesh.” (Rom.13:14). It is time to be alert, vigilant and coming
closer to the Lord. In the gospel, Jesus is warning us about our distant and dissipated moments
in our faith encounters. “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your
Lord will come.” (Mt.24:42). Causal and routine faith destroys our life gradually and surely.
Jesus is coming surely but none of us have the privilege to know the time and so let us be
alert and active in our faith commitments. May we not found wanting in anyway. Christ will
show up when we are least prepared and so let us be vigilant at all times. May you have a
good day. May God bless you.

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