Search this site Home | Sitemap | Contact Us | FAQ’s | Locator About us Faith and Life Education Youth Vocations Safeguarding News A time of waiting Meditation of the week A time of waiting Week starting Nov 27 2021 Luke 21,25-28; 34-36. Advent is the beginning of the Church’s New Year and our time of preparation for the feast of Christmas. The word Advent comes from Latin adventus which means coming. Consisting of four Sundays, Advent is a time of waiting and preparation for Christmas, when we celebrate the first coming of Christ to our earth in visible human form. The liturgical readings for the first Sunday of Advent always focus on the second coming of Christ at the end of time. The end of the world, however, is still to come and the only language Jesus uses, appropriate for this indescribable event is apocalyptic, which purports to be a description of that future event. Its rich symbolism and colourful imagery convey an atmosphere of crisis, as the final showdown between the powers of good and evil is about to take place. The outcome is always a victory for God and the righteous, but usually at the cost of great trials and much suffering for his faithful ones. The signs in the sun and moon and stars, indicative of cosmic catastrophes, are regular apocalyptic phenomena preceding or accompanying a crisis. The nations in agony are the gentiles awaiting their judgement by God. The sea, upon which God imposed his will at creation, was traditionally seen as the repository of evil forces (Rev 13,1). People are dying of fear as they await the unleashing of these menacing forces on the world. The powers of heaven that will be shaken are probably the heavenly bodies identified with the pagan gods of Greco-Roman religion. The coming of the Son of Man is the moment of victory for those who remain faithful. The mention of “the cloud” for Luke has resonances of the cloud of the Transfiguration which covered the disciples and made them afraid, (Lk 9,34-35) and the cloud in the Ascension which took Jesus from the disciples’ sight (Acts 1,9). The victorious Messiah king, Jesus Christ, will come in a cloud clothed with the power and glory of God The faithful, by contrast with the gentiles (unbelievers), have nothing to fear when these signs presaging the end of the world, appear. They are to stand erect, heads held high in the posture of victors, because their salvation is at hand. Christians, awaiting the end times, are to be on their guard lest their hearts be coarsened by dissipation, drunkenness, and the cares of life. They should stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to be faithful to the end. Praying at all times means being on God’s wavelength, being tuned in to his love in our lives, in people, in our world, in nature, in the events of our times, and especially in our hearing and reading of the Scriptures, and in our prayer and worship of God. Advent prayer is waiting on God with a listening ear. We spend four weeks preparing to celebrate the feast of Christmas marking the first coming of Christ to our earth in visible human form two thousand years ago, to save us from our sins and to teach that God loves us infinitely, unconditionally, eternally. In the first Advent/Coming Jesus the Son of God became man. In the second Coming/Advent when Jesus comes again, at the end of time, he will bring all those who follow him to heaven. We shall become like God. Let us work and pray that we may be ready when he comes to us this Christmas and at the end. Fr Geoff O’Grady Tweet Bishop Bishop's Diary Cathedral The OMT Initiative Diocesan Notices Year of the Word Live Masses Online Directory Locator Search this site Home | Sitemap | Contact Us | FAQ’s | Locator Site designed & developed by cuckoodesign.com