First Sunday of Advent
Mt 24: 37-44
For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Stay Awake
With the flood of information always at our fingertips, the endless news cycle and the ability to scroll into infinity, it is easy to feel connected to just about everything that is going on in the world. We can click from one natural disaster and global conflict to another. With all this information, however, are we truly awake? To be informed about the world is important, but sometimes the internet and the news, for all the good they have to offer, can be a distraction from the life that is happening before our eyes.
On this First Sunday of Advent, our Gospel tells us to “stay awake!” Stay awake to the presence of God all around you – in simple things, in the wind, the chill, the comfort of a warm home. Prepare yourself, for you do not want to miss the day, nor the hour, when God appears in your midst.
—Fr. Louis Hotop, SJ, serves in ministry to migrants in the Brownsville (Texas) Diocese on the U.S.-Mexico border. He is a member of the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province.
Prayer
Good and loving God, help me to be awake this Advent. Give me the grace to see your presence active in my life, drawing me into greater appreciation of your many gifts. May I have the freedom to discern with your help the things that truly deepen my life with you and with others and to leave behind that which distracts me from your presence
—Fr. Louis Hotop, SJ