Peace
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 24,37-44
Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In (those) days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be (also) at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
Peace to all my brothers and sisters listening in today.
Adventus past, present, and future
- Adventus. Today Jesús speaks about how we ought to prepare for His second coming. The very word used for “coming” in Latin is adventus from which we get the term advent. The other less well known meaning of this word is “presence”, “arrival” or “coming”. The romans used this word to indicate the arrival of an official or the visit of a king or emperor. This meaning fits in well with our celebration of Christmas, remembering when Christ our King was born on earth. The word also refers to the revealing of a divine presence which was concealed. Advent then is not only about preparing for Christs second coming but just as important becoming aware of His sustained presence. You see even though Christ came and left physically and will come again, we also acknowledge His mysterious abiding presence often revealed in sacramental ways. Christians therefore use the word “advent” to express the reality that God is here, he has not abandoned or deserted us. Although we cannot see God with our eyes or touch him with our hands, we can experience certain signs of His presence.
- Adventus. In our busy lives we barely have time for ourselves let alone the time to be attentive or aware of the Lord’s presence – Benedict 16th observed that in our modern world we are often absorbed in “doing”. He asked: Is it not true that activities often absorb us and that society with its multiple interests, monopolizes our attention? Is it not true that we devote a lot of time to entertainment and to various kinds of amusement? At times we get carried away.
Advent, he said invites us to pause in silence to understand and be attentive to His presence. It is an invitation to see hints of Gods hand in the ordinary events of our day. How often are we unaware of Gods presence -how often do I miss seeing a glimpse of God’s concrete love for me? God in fact is not absent- what is absent is our awareness of his presence.
- Adventus. Adventus invites us to awaken to contemplate the Lord already present, in order to best prepare for His second coming. Its been said there are only Three temptations, from which all other tempations derive. That God does not love us as much as God does, that God is not as present as God is and that God does not want to give me as much as I think. The certainty of his abiding presence can help us see the world with different eyes, helping me to remind me that Every moment is pregnant with Gods presence.
Today let us experience intensely the present in which we already receive the gifts of the Lord, let us live it focused on the future, a future charged with hope.
May God bless you in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit
Always remember Heaven is our goal.
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God Bless You!
