November 27/First Sunday of Advent
Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
~ Matt 24.44
Each summer, as the waters begin to warm and swirl off the coast of Africa and head west towards the Eastern seaboard of the U.S., my husband and I go through the hurricane checklist. Canned food, flashlight batteries, candles, bottled water – all are procured and stowed against the eventuality that a Gascon or a Libby will make landfall in our city. Thanks to the hyper-vigilance of the greater meteorological community, of course, we have a reasonably good idea of when the storm might come (while fully respecting the unpredictability of any kind of weather event!). And we are prepared. Now, when Jesus tells his followers that they must be ready, he is not referring to this kind of checklist readiness. Rather, he is calling us to continuous spiritual and ethical preparation. This is not a one-time action, but an almost habitual decision about how we are to live each day. The small choices we make – to help someone who is in need, to refrain from the angry word or the impatient gesture, to shelve the screens and be truly present to a loved one – it is these that put us in a disposition of readiness. Getting ready doesn’t mean that we exist in a constant state of anxious alert. Getting ready means, as Paul instructed the Roman Christian community, that we “conduct ourselves properly,” or literally, “walk about” [the Greek peripateo, giving us our wonderful word “peripatetic”] “with decorum.” We prepare for the unknown day and time of Christ’s coming by making daily decisions, about what we think, say, and do, that both open us to grace and enable us to share that grace with others. Such is the work of preparation that we embark upon today, as we seek to be channels of God’s love to the world.
Loving God, As the Advent season begins, instill in me the desire to walk about in your love. Amen.
To hear The Gerald Sisters sing “Be Ready When He Comes,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROiSw3ylFlQ
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112722.cfm
