First Sunday of Advent

For hundreds of millions of years, God gently allowed the universe to quietly unfold according to his predetermined pattern. In the timeline of creation, it was only recent when Adam and Eve and humanity leaped forward from their surroundings. The first book of the bible, Genesis, shows us Adam and Eve attempting to run, before they could walk. Because of their pride, we have, in a spiritual manner, been walking with a limp for tens of thousands of years.

However, God, who knows the past, present and future, secures his plan for our salvation by sending, at the appointed time, his Son to teach us, among other things, to "run again" towards our heavenly goal. For hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, God sent messengers to coach and prepare humanity for his arrival. Preparation for the advent of God would be threefold.

1. Be cleansed of sin so that, when God approaches, we might be able to approach him.

2. We must desire to be saved and wish with all our heart to be rescued from sin and corruption.

3. We are duty-bound to provide the right environment for God, not just in our souls, but also in our lives and in the life of our society and culture.

During the course of the next four weeks, the Church assigns us special mentors to help us, with God’s help, realize these goals. Our first guide is the prophet Isaiah. He spoke up against the corruption of society and culture and the loss of the sense of the sacred. The prophet Isaiah’s words are to help us build up an appetite for the holy, the divine and the sacred and recognize it in our midst.

We are reminded that God comes into the darkness of this world and the darkness does not understand him. Yet even if we find ourselves entangled by sin, our own darkness must reach out to the gentle light of the new dawn, and surrender to its rays. But this is not only an interior awakening of the soul. Christ comes to set free everyone, all society, from the chains and compulsions of sin and fear.

The Church, the Bride of Christ, begins a new year even as the days become darker. Our first prayer, the Collect, sums it all up. We prayed for the resolve to move more and more the direction of Christ. We do so, when our actions reflect truth in all our relationships. The more we initiate, with the help of God’s grace, good works in our lives, the more become compatible to the things of heaven. The more we let go of darkness our lives, the more the eyes of our soul are adjusted to the approaching light of heaven.

Advent teaches us not afraid to say to God, “Come”, come closer and guide our steps “as we walk amid passing things,” This Holy Season teaches us “to love the things of heaven and hold fast to what endures”. Once we have completed our journey through the shadows of the night, let our hope joyfully point us recognize our savior when we see him face to face when the final day does come.