1st Sunday of Advent (Cycle A)
Be Watchful and Be Prepared
(Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122:1-9; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44)
Advent can be likened to awaiting the birth of a child, evoking a mixture of happiness and contentment, accompanied by nervousness and anxiety. It is a time of waiting. The entire Church community anticipates the day when God will lift the veil that separates people and nations, establishing perfect unity with Him, as prophesied in Isaiah 25:7-9. On that day, God will “wipe away the tears from every cheek” (Isaiah 25:8), and we will witness a reality in Heaven where there is no death, mourning, sadness, or pain (Revelation 7:17; 21:4). During this season, we not only prepare to reflect on the First Advent of Jesus, who came to Earth as God incarnate to conquer sin and death, but we also look forward to His promised Second Advent at the end of time, when Jesus will return as King and divine Judge to gather His Church into His heavenly Kingdom.
Christians believe that death is not the end, but rather a new beginning. At the end of our earthly lives, or if Christ's Second Advent occurs sooner, we will enter either an eternity of blessings or an eternity of sorrow. In the First Advent of Jesus the Messiah, both covenant blessings and judgments became eternal for the first time, differing from the temporary blessings and judgments of the Old Covenants, where both the righteous and the sinful awaited the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah in Sheol (or Hades, the grave), and Jesus's description of Sheol in Luke 16:19-31.
God began to prepare the peoples of the earth for the eternity that awaits them through His holy prophets, laying out the choice between two destinies: the path to eternal life and the path to unending death. The 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah, in the First Reading, speaks of the promised Messianic Age and the “light” of the Lord, which calls all peoples to receive the message of salvation, ultimately resulting in peace and justice for all nations. The Messianic Era of Christ's Kingdom, the Church, will culminate with the Second Advent of Jesus, which will bring the Last Judgment for all humanity across generations.
In our Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist expresses joy at the beginning of his pilgrimage with friends and family to Jerusalem, continuing with their arrival as they pass through the gates of the walled city. He praises God’s holy city for the unity it brings to the twelve tribes of Israel as they “go up” to His Temple on Mount Moriah, thanking God for His blessings, justice, and judgment during their Liturgy of worship.
St. Paul reminds us in the Second Reading, while Jesus warns us in today’s Gospel Reading, that we must guard our lives by living in obedience to faith, preparing for the day when Christ returns. We do not know the exact day or hour of His coming (Matthew 24:36). Therefore, we must keep our souls in a state of grace, ready for our Saviour's return, since the timing is unknown. Jesus likens this unexpected event to a thief breaking into a house. He urges all generations to prepare for His coming, whether at our individual death or at the final hour for humanity. When Christ returns in glory as the King of the Universe, He will take us with Him. As the psalmist sings, we will rejoice as we enter the heavenly “house of the Lord,” experiencing the joy of eternal union with the Most Holy Trinity. The Greek word parousia means “appearance” or “coming,” and in the ancient secular world, it referred to a king’s coming to review and judge the loyalty of his vassal people.
Today’s Gospel Passage can be interpreted in three different ways.
1. The unknown time of the coming tribulation and judgment on the Jerusalem of Jesus’s generation.
2. The unknown hour of the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time.
3. The unknown moment of one’s death, when each person will face divine judgment.
In verses 37-39, Jesus compares His coming in judgment to the days of Noah. His point emphasises the unexpected nature of the final crisis. During Noah's time, people went about their daily activities until the flood swept them away. Similarly, our ordinary lives will be abruptly interrupted by this crisis. The example of two people performing the same tasks, with one “taken” and the other “left behind,” highlights not only the common theme of daily life ending suddenly but also the division that will occur when “the Son of Man will come” (verse 44) to judge (see Jesus’s teaching on division in Matthew 10:34-35).
In verses 42-44, Jesus urges vigilance since the exact time of His return is unknown. He likens this unexpected event to a thief breaking into a man’s house, a comparison that appears five times in the New Testament (Matthew 24:43; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3; 16:15). In verse 44, Jesus calls on all people, men and women of every generation, to prepare for His coming at the hour of our death and the final hour for all humanity.
For centuries, Christians have tried to calculate the day of Christ’s return, but it is unwise to speculate about the timing of His Second Coming. Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Matthew 24:36). Therefore, it is better to live as though He is coming at any moment and to keep our lives continually in right relationship with God and free from sin. Jesus warned His disciples that if anyone claims to know when He will return, that person should be avoided because they are a false prophet (Matthew 24:22-23; see also the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1040).
We must be ready for Christ’s return by continually turning away from sin and returning to God, living in a state of grace and in communion with our Lord. If we are unprepared, we risk being like the five foolish virgins in Jesus’s parable in Matthew 25:1-13, and thus unready for Jesus, our “Bridegroom,” Lord, and King. His Parousia (an ancient Greek word meaning “presence, arrival, or official visit”) will come as He warned: “So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour!” (Matthew 24:42).
As St. Paul teaches in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, “We can tell you this from the Lord’s own teaching: that we who are still alive for the Lord’s coming will not have any advantage over those who have fallen asleep. At the signal given by the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God, the Lord himself will come down from heaven; those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise, and only after that shall we who remain alive be taken up in the clouds, together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. This is how we shall be with the Lord forever.” We will only meet Him in glory if we are watchful and prepared for the coming of our eternal Bridegroom!
Dr Nicholas Macedon, OCD,
Jeeva Jyothi Carmelite Institute of Spirituality (JJCIS),
Old Gandarvakottai,
Pudukottai - 613301.
Tamil Nadu, India
What's app - +91 - 9698453101
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