First Sunday of Advent ©
INTRO:

I went to the seminary for HIGH SCHOOL, which meant I attended a boarding school for my HIGH SCHOOL days. At 14, I left home and went to live at Borromeo, coming home for a THANKSGIVING, Christmas, and Easter holiday only to go back to the seminary.

I LOVED it!!!….. And ….. Had the GREATEST TIME and as the first year was ending, I was getting all disappointed having to go home for the summer, missing my friends and all the activities.

And my friends …..Noticing I was sad ……. GAVE ME THE REALITY TEST……saying to me that phrase:

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END!!!
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END!!!

One of the most difficulties, if not the most difficulty is the loss of life and the life of our loved one, whether expected or unexpected….. This loss is HUGE!

??? How many of us have experienced this???

Another kind of loss that the church is trying to teach us for which to be ready, in these four ADVENT LITURGIES, is the loss of our world as we know it… the end times, and the final judgement.

REPORT CARDS!

Do you remember getting your report cards in school? It is a bit different and highly technological today, but in the olden days….

Handwritten messages from the teacher accompanied the letter grades of “A”/ “B”/ “C”/ “D” and “F” for each subject. I have never forgotten my second grade teacher’s remarks in this handwritten section:

“James would do a lot better in class if he would simply mind his own business and stop talking to others during class!”

The report card was THE JUDGEMENT of how I was doing in “life”!

And the JUDGEMENT of our lives …… at the end of the world…. when all good things come to an end …….is likewise going to happen and we need to be ready.

And, what will the GREAT TEACHER say about you and me???

Well……
Today’s Advent story is from LUKE, the Gospel writer, and he is basically asking all of us TO PRAY DAILY!

Praying daily will help us be ready.

“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you may have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man!”

One form of PRAYER is praying with the Scriptures….

Reading a simple paragraph from a chosen book of the Bible…. Let’s say you choose the Gospel of LUKE….

• Read a passage slowly and carefully within the bible.
• Have a loving conversation with God.
• Think deeply about a spiritual reality within a text.
• Be quiet in God’s presence.
• And….Go and do likewise.
CONCLUSION

A dynamic catholic spends maybe 10-15 minutes a day in prayer.

Make this the best Advent ever and begin to pray daily, for we know not the day, the time, nor the hour when our Savior will come.

Be ready…. Stand erect….raise your heads for your redemption is at hand.