THE LORD IS COMING, BRINGING PEACE AND SALVATION

I SUNDAY OF ADVENT:Isaiah 2:1-5; Mt 24:37-44

The liturgical season of Advent, which we start this Sunday, is a time filled with hope, enlightening and warming our hearts in the cold of our anxieties and distresses.

Looking forward to the arrival (advent) of the Prince of Peace and Lord of Life, we are called to prepare ourselves in earnest so that we may give him a great welcome.

Remembering the historical event of Jesus' birth, we celebrate his coming into our lives today, while preparing ourselves for the time when God's promises will be fulfilled and our salvation will be complete.

The words of the prophet Isaiah still resound in today's world. They come to us like a dream in the night, which fills us with joy and hope. But it is not a dream. Isaiah announces a time of reconciliation and peace; and this peace is a promise and a project, being offered to us as God's gift and demanding from us commitment and the readiness to make difficult choices, changing our ways and our relation with creation and with each other.

"He will wield authority over the nations

and adjudicate between many peoples;

these will hammer their swords into ploughshares,

their spears into sickles.

Nation will not lift sword against nation,

there will be no more training for war.

O House of Jacob, come,

let us walk in the light of the Lord." (Is 2:1-5)

During the Advent, we must be ready to have our homes, our lives and our hearts wide open for Jesus Christ to come in, and this is very much stressed in the Gospel: "the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." (Mt 24:44) We have to be on the look out, so that we are not caught unaware and unprepared.

We must cultivate an attitude of alertness, restraining ourselves from all self-indulgence which gives a short-lived respite from all the pain that oppresses our lives, and committing ourselves to listen to God's word and do his will.