First Sunday Advent

First Sunday of Advent
November 28, 2004

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again... (Isaiah 2: 1-5). You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep... the night is advanced, the day is at hand. (Roman's 13:11-14). Therefore stay awake... for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." (Matthew 24: 37-44)
The prophet has a vision of how our world will be some day when the Son of Man returns. St. Paul urges us to wake up, stay alert and live uprightly. Jesus compares his own times to those of the days before the flood when people were oblivious to the consequences of their actions, and were completely surprised when the day of reckoning came.
The unmistakable message at this beginning of Advent: the way we live now is our future. Even more, the quality of our lives now will determine whether we even recognize the Most High immediately before us whenever that may happen. We may not always realize how intimately present and future are linked together. All we really have is now. The illusion is that the future is a reality, upon which we can count for more time.
A wise old woman in a Spanish film whose title I cannot remember, remarks "when people make plans, God laughs". We do not have to "wait" for this great future event to occur. It is here already, even as we slumber away confident in our illusion that there is more time. Time is the illusion, eternity is the reality. The spiritual life, life in God, can only be lived in the presence of eternity. In this sense, even the traditional "three comings of Christ" in Advent (at Christmas, in our hearts, and at the end of time) is an artifact of this illusion that we have more time. Right now is the end of time. Right now is Christmas. Right now the Spirit of the Most High is within us waiting for us to wake up to that truth.
I have often reflected on how grateful I am that I took advantage of my strength while I had it to do a couple of great bike rides the summer before I was diagnosed with ALS. My companions and I reflect even now that there were already signs, which concerned us but which we ignored, as if it was impossible that this moment of strength and vigor could ever go away. Images of these experiences are still fresh at this very moment and give me as much pleasure now, although in a very different way, as they did then.
So, this Advent let us take advantage of the moment. Act as if we had no more time, because we do not. Tell someone now that you love them, if you do. Ask for forgiveness now, if you know you have hurt someone. Go now for the life you always wanted instead of waiting for the "right time".