I heard an interesting ad on KYW earlier this week. It was for one of those new vacation packages. Rather than going on a cruise to some exotic destiny, the ad invites you to a health spa on a ranch in the Midwest where you will be offered the latest health care treatments and learn about how changes in your diet and exercise will help you extend your life. After all, the ad asserts, the most important destiny is a long and healthy life.
Today, as we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent, we hear some very important messages about our final destiny, which comes at the end of our life here on earth. Our gospel passage ends with an urgent call to be vigilant at all times so that we will be ready to stand erect as Jesus comes at the final judgment. One day, you and I will stand face to face before Christ at the end of our earthly existence and we will be judged on how well we have prepared for that moment; it’s not with mud baths or yoga sessions. And yet, we often live our lives awash with distractions such as these. Our attention is too easily turned away from what lies ahead at the end of our time here on earth.
Thus, Jesus gives us fair warning at the end of today’s Gospel account. Allow me to repeat the last part: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Stand before the Son of Man. What will prepare us so that, as we hear Jesus encourage us earlier in today’s Gospel passage, we will be able to stand erect and raise our heads because our redemption is at hand?
As we begin once again the sacred season of Advent, we hear in today’s readings references to the three comings of Christ: in history – as foretold by Jeremiah in today’s first reading, at the end of time – as we hear both St. Paul and our Lord, Jesus, foretell in today’s second reading and gospel passage, and in our midst today – as we hear St. Paul exhort the community in Thessalonika – and us – to make happen in today’s second reading. Let’s listen to those passages again. Jeremiah encourages the Israelites cowering in Jerusalem as they endure the ongoing onslaught of the Babylonians with these words: “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot.” This is clearly a prophecy about the coming of Jesus, who was born of David’s line.
In St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we hear about our Lord’s final coming with the exhortation: “Brothers and sisters: may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another…so as to strengthen your hearts to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.” We hear our Lord speak of the same coming when he proclaims in today’s Gospel: “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Both St. Paul and Jesus are speaking of our risen Lord’s coming at the end of time.
In the meantime, we are called to make Jesus present in our midst through our love for one another, conducting ourselves to please God, as we hear St. Paul admonish his beloved community in Thessalonika. As with all of Sacred Scripture, this admonition is meant for us today as well.
Yes, our Lord has come in our midst. Through his death and resurrection, he has overcome evil and death and brought God’s love in person among us. Through his Church, he is still present in our midst, especially through his Word and his sacraments. We are witnesses to that even today. And, he will come again, at the end of each of our lives and at the end of time. As we proclaim in the Creed in just a few moments, he will come again “to judge the living and the dead.” Our fate is set through preparing ourselves for that moment, for it will determine our eternity.
When that moment comes, will we be filled with terror, or will we be filled with eager anticipation at the approach of our final, joyful destiny? The answer, of course, depends on how we have lived our lives. If we are to be judged worthy, it means we have cooperated with God’s grace in our time on earth, and have humbly offered the gift of our life back to God.
The mission of Jesus has become the life of the Church and the call to stay alert has not diminished. Watchfulness is at the heart of our Christian faith. We are to pray always, watch for signs of the Lord’s presence and activity in the world and, in fact, help to bring them about by our daily work of making him known. The work of redemption is not a single culminating harvest at the end of time, but the gradual work of sowing God’s word, cultivating communities of virtue, peacemaking and reconciliation in the name of Jesus.
Let us continue the work of the Church through this, our age in preparing for the coming of our Lord at the end of time! And, let us be vigilant and joyful, for he comes to bring us home to the Father, our final and eternal destiny!